Choosing the Most Efficacious and Safe Oral Treatment for Idiopathic Overactive Bladder: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.

The choice of the most efficacious drug for patients with idiopathic overactive bladder (IOAB) remains challenging.

The aim of this network meta-analysis was to determine the most efficacious oral antimuscarinic or β-adrenoceptor agonist accounting for adverse events for the management of IOAB.

A comprehensive electronic search was done in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, and Ovid for studies in any language in February 2021 considering the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement. We included all randomized controlled trials assessing oral antimuscarinics or β-adrenoceptor agonists for the treatment of IOAB. We determined the effect of specific bothersome symptoms separately.

Fifty-four articles were included in our analysis. The most efficacious agents considering the evaluated outcomes were oxybutynin 15 mg/d in reducing incontinence episodes, imidafenacin 0.5 mg/d together with solifenacin 10 and 5 mg/d in reducing micturition episodes, fesoterodine 4 and 8 mg/d as well as solifenacin 10 mg/d in reducing urgency episodes, imidafenacin 0.5 mg/d and solifenacin 10 mg/d in reducing urgency urinary incontinence episodes, and solifenacin 10 mg/d, vibegron 50 mg/d, and fesoterodine 8 mg/d in improving the voided volume. Gastrointestinal problems, especially due to antimuscarinic agents, were the most prevalent adverse events.

Taken together, there is only minimal difference between the efficacy of oral antimuscarinics and that of β-adrenoceptor agonists. Although finding the best medication for all is impossible, finding the best treatment for every individual patient can be done by considering the efficacy of a medicine for the most bothersome symptom(s) in balance with drug-specific adverse events.

This study aimed to find the most efficient oral medication to treat overactive bladder, taking into consideration the adverse events. Based on our study, there is a minimal difference in the efficacy between the two major drug classes used to treat overactive bladder. Gastrointestinal problems were the most common adverse events in medical treatment of overactive bladder. Selection of the best treatment is possible through shared decision-making between the doctor and the patient based on the patient's most bothersome symptom. We provide a framework for physicians to facilitate shared decision-making with each individual patient.

European urology focus. 2021 Sep 22 [Epub ahead of print]

Hadi Mostafaei, Hanieh Salehi-Pourmehr, Sandra Jilch, Greta Lisa Carlin, Keiichiro Mori, Fahad Quhal, Benjamin Pradere, Nico C Grossmann, Ekaterina Laukhtina, Victor M Schuettfort, Abdulmajeed Aydh, Reza Sari Motlagh, Frederik König, Claus G Roehrborn, Satoshi Katayama, Pawel Rajwa, Sakineh Hajebrahimi, Shahrokh F Shariat

Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran., Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; King Faisal Medical City, Abha, Saudi Arabia., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Men's Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Medical University of Silesia, Zabrze, Poland., Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Urology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria; Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan; European Association of Urology research foundation, Arnhem, The Netherlands. Electronic address: .