Patterns of use of medications used to treat urinary incontinence and potentially inappropriate prescriptions.

Background: The pharmacological treatment of urinary incontinence (UI) may involve bladder antimuscarinics, which can generate risks in the elderly.

Objective: The aim was to determine the treatment patterns of a group of patients with UI and possible potentially inappropriate prescriptions.

Design and methods: This was a cross-sectional study that identified prescription patterns of medications for outpatient use in patients with UI between December 2020 and November 2021 based on a population database of members of the Colombian Health System. Patients were identified based on the codes of the international classification of diseases, version-10. Sociodemographic and pharmacological variables were considered.

Results: A total of 9855 patients with UI were identified, with a median age of 72 years, and 74.6% were women. Unspecified UI was the most frequent form (83.2%), followed by specified UI (7.9%), stress UI (6.7%), and UI associated with an overactive bladder (2.2%). A total of 37.2% received pharmacological treatment, mainly with bladder antimuscarinics (22.6%), mirabegron (15.6%), and topical estrogens (7.9%). Pharmacological management predominated in UI associated with overactive bladder, in women and in patients between 50 and 79 years of age. Of the patients who received bladder antimuscarinics, 54.5% were 65 years old or older, and 21.5% also had benign prostatic hyperplasia, sicca syndrome, glaucoma, constipation, or dementia. A total of 2.0% of women had been prescribed systemic estrogens and 1.7% had been prescribed peripheral α-adrenergic antagonists.

Conclusion: Differences in the prescriptions were found according to the type of UI, sex, and age group. Potentially inappropriate or risky prescriptions were common.