Overactive bladder (OAB) is prevalent in older adults in whom management is complicated by comorbidities and greater vulnerability to the cognitive effects of antimuscarinic medications.
The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive evidence-based summary of the 2021 State-of-the-Science (SOS) conference and a multidisciplinary expert literature review on OAB and cognitive impairment.
The American Urogynecologic Society and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Research Foundation convened a 3-day collaborative conference. Experts from multidisciplinary fields examined cognitive function, higher neural control of the OAB patient, risk factors for cognitive impairment in older patients, cognitive effects of antimuscarinic medications for OAB treatment, OAB phenotyping, conservative and advanced OAB therapies, and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to person-centered treatment. Translational topics included the blood-brain barrier, purine metabolome, mechanotransduction, and gene therapy for OAB targets.
Research surrounding OAB treatment efficacy in cognitively impaired individuals is limited. Short- and long-term outcomes regarding antimuscarinic effects on cognition are mixed; however, greater anticholinergic burden and duration of use influence risk. Oxybutynin is most consistently associated with negative cognitive effects in short-term, prospective studies. Although data are limited, beta-adrenergic agonists do not appear to confer the same cognitive risk.
The 2021 SOS summary report provides a comprehensive review of the fundamental, translational, and clinical research on OAB with emphasis on cognitive impairment risks to antimuscarinic medications. Duration of use and antimuscarinic type, specifically oxybutynin when examining OAB treatments, appears to have the most cognitive impact; however, conclusions are limited by the primarily cognitively intact population studied. Given current evidence, it appears prudent to minimize anticholinergic burden by emphasizing nonantimuscarinic therapeutic regimens in the older population and/or those with cognitive impairment.
Urogynecology (Hagerstown, Md.). 2022 Oct 22 [Epub]
Katherine L Dengler, Rachel A High, Daniela C Moga, Jacqueline Zillioux, Adrian Wagg, Catherine E DuBeau, Mary F Ackenbom, Marianna Alperin, Chantale Dumoulin, Lori A Birder, Donna Mazloomdoost, H Henry Lai, Vivian W Sung, Shelly L Gray, Tatiana V D Sanses
From the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD., Women's Health, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY., Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH., University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada., Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, NH., University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA., Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA., Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD., Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO., The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI., University of Washington, Seattle, WA., Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC.