Ocular surface changes following oral anticholinergic use for overactive bladder

Oral anticholinergic drugs versus placebo or no treatment for managing overactive bladder syndrome in adults

BACKGROUND

Around 16% of adults have symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB; urgency with frequency and/or urge incontinence), with prevalence increasing with age. Anticholinergic drugs are commonly used to treat this condition. This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in 2002 and last updated in 2006.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effects of anticholinergic drugs compared with placebo or no treatment for treating overactive bladder syndrome in adults.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Specialised Register, which contains trials identified from the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, MEDLINE Epub Ahead of Print, ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO ICTRP and handsearching of journals and conference proceedings (searched 14 January 2020), and the reference lists of relevant articles. We updated this search on 3 May 2022, but these results have not yet been fully incorporated.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised or quasi-randomised trials in adults with overactive bladder syndrome that compared an anticholinergic drug alone with placebo treatment.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two review authors independently assessed eligibility and extracted data from the included studies, including an assessment of the risk of bias. We assessed the certainty of the body of evidence using the GRADE approach. We processed data as described in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

MAIN RESULTS

We included 104 studies, 71 of which were new or updated for this version of the review. Although 12 studies did not report the number of participants, there were 47,106 people in the remainder of the included studies. The majority of the studies had insufficient information to allow judgement of risk of bias and we judged them to be unclear for all domains. Nine anticholinergic drugs were included in these studies: darifenacin; fesoterodine; imidafenacin; oxybutynin; propantheline; propiverine; solifenacin; tolterodine and trospium. No studies were found that compared anticholinergic drugs to no treatment. At the end of the treatment period, anticholinergics may slightly increase condition-specific quality of life (mean difference (MD) 4.41 lower, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.28 lower to 3.54 lower (scale range -100 to 0); 12 studies, 6804 participants; low-certainty evidence). Anticholinergics are probably better than placebo in terms of patient perception of cure or improvement (risk ratio (RR) 1.38, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.66; 9 studies, 8457 participants; moderate-certainty evidence), and the mean number of urgency episodes per 24-hour period (MD 0.85 lower, 95% CI 1.03 lower to 0.67 lower; 23 studies, 16,875 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Compared to placebo, anticholinergics may result in an increase in dry mouth adverse events (RR 3.50, 95% CI 3.26 to 3.75; 66 studies, 38,368 participants; low-certainty evidence), and may result in an increased risk of urinary retention (RR 3.52, 95% CI 2.04 to 6.08; 17 studies, 7862 participants; low-certainty evidence). Taking anticholinergics may be more likely to lead to participants withdrawing from the studies due to adverse events (RR 1.37, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.56; 61 studies, 36,943 participants; low-certainty evidence). However, taking anticholinergics probably reduces the mean number of micturitions per 24-hour period compared to placebo (MD 0.85 lower, 95% CI 0.98 lower to 0.73 lower; 30 studies, 19,395 participants; moderate-certainty evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

The use of anticholinergic drugs by people with overactive bladder syndrome results in important but modest improvements in symptoms compared with placebo treatment. In addition, recent studies suggest that this is generally associated with only modest improvement in quality of life. Adverse effects were higher with all anticholinergics compared with placebo. Withdrawals due to adverse effects were also higher for all anticholinergics except tolterodine. It is not known whether any benefits of anticholinergics are sustained during long-term treatment or after treatment stops.

Ocular adverse effects of bladder medication: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

With the ageing population, lower urinary tract symptoms are becoming more prevalent with an estimate that by 2025, 52 million adults in the USA will be affected. After lifestyle modifications fail to resolve symptoms, second-line therapy with medications is often recommended by both the European Association of Urology and the American Urological Association. Considering the vulnerability of older patients to co-morbidities, physicians must be more aware of adverse side effects. This study aims to identify a linkage between common overactive bladder and interstitial cystitis medication and adverse ocular symptoms.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and HealthSTAR alongside a grey literature search in clinicaltrials.gov to include all articles relating to bladder medication and vision-threatening loss. Covidence review software was utilised to conduct the systematic review.

RESULTS

In total, 222 articles were screened, and 23 articles met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive coverage of 10 available medications was analysed. All medications reported adverse vision effects stratified over 15 categories. The most common adverse effect was reported to be blurred vision (n = 12 studies). Mirabegron had the most number of adverse types of ocular symptoms that covered 6 categories. Cizolirthine Citrate and Elocatitol had the least amount of ocular side effects reported. From the total of 8459 patients that were treated for either overactive bladder syndrome or interstitial cystitis with oral medications, 422 reported adverse vision effects.

CONCLUSIONS

This review suggests that ocular safety should be assessed in patients requiring systematic drug therapy in order to guide future research, focussing on long-term tolerability.

Comparison of the effects of trospium and solifenacin on intraocular pressure and tear secretion in patients with overactive bladder

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Comparison of the effects of trospium and solifenacin used for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) on intraocular pressure (IOP) and tear secretion.

METHODS

This study was planned as a prospective study and was conducted at a single center between October 2014 and April 2016. OAB patients were included in the study following an ophthalmic examination, IOP measurement with an applanation tonometer, and tear secretion measurement with the Schirmer I test in the ophthalmology outpatient department. The patients were started with trospium 30 mg oral bid or solifenacin 5 mg oral qd. They were then followed up at the 4th and 12th weeks.

RESULTS

A total of 225 OAB patients with a mean age of 47.80 (18-75) years were evaluated. The mean age was 47.41 ± 12.65 years in the trospium group (n = 104) and 48.14 ± 11.82 years in the solifenacin group (n = 121) with no statistically significant difference. When the two medications were compared, no statistically significant difference was observed at the 4th and 12th weeks in terms of IOP (p = 0.988, p = 0.822) and dry eye (p = 0.764, p = 0.581).

CONCLUSIONS

No statistically significant difference was observed between trospium and solifenacin in terms of their effects on IOP and tear secretion in OAB patients. We therefore concluded that the effects of trospium and solifenacin on IOP and tear secretion changes were similar in OAB patients without comorbidities.

Evaluation of pupil responses and anterior chamber parameters in overactive bladder syndrome before and after antimuscarinic treatment

PURPOSE

To evaluate the static and dynamic pupillometric responses and anterior chamber parameters in overactive bladder (OAB) patients before and after solifenacin succinate treatment and to compare these results with those of healthy control subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty OAB patients who were planned to be treated with solifenacin succinate and 40 control subjects without any systemic or ocular diseases were included in the study. Following detailed ophthalmological examination, Pentacam imaging in order to detect anterior chamber angle, depth and volume; and static and dynamic pupillometry measurement in order to detect high-photopic (100 cd/m²), low-photopic (10 cd/m²), mesopic (1 cd/m²) and scotopic (0.1 cd/m²) pupil diameters, amplitude of pupil contraction, latency of pupil contraction, duration of pupil contraction, velocity of pupil contraction, latency of pupil dilation, duration of pupil dilation and velocity of pupil dilation were performed at baseline and at the first month of treatment. Data from the right eyes of the participants were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Baseline low- and high-photopic pupil diameters, duration of pupil contraction, latency of pupil dilatation and velocity of pupil dilatation values were significantly higher; and velocity of pupil contraction and duration of pupil dilation values were lower in the OAB group compared to the control group (P < 0.05 for all). One-month treatment with oral solifenacin succinate revealed higher scotopic and mesopic pupil diameters (P = 0.042, P = 0.031, respectively). Also, latency of pupil contraction was found to be increased and velocity of pupil dilatation was found to be decreased compared to pretreatment (P = 0.003, P < 0.001, respectively). We did not find any significant change in anterior chamber angle, depth and volume measured with Pentacam HR compared to pretreatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with OAB also have pupil abnormalities which probably reflect an underlying autonomic disorder that affects the bladder and pupils. One-month treatment of solifenacin succinate may lead to enlargement of pupil diameters under low illumination conditions and may lead to changes in dynamic pupillometric responses compatible with antimuscarinic treatment. Systemic antimuscarinic therapy has no effect on anterior chamber depth and intraocular pressure.

Comparision effects of solifenacin, darifenacin, propiverine on ocular parameters in eyes: A prospective study

Objective

To evaluate the effects of solifenacin, darifenacin, and propiverine on nasal-, subfoveal-, temporal choroidal thicknesses (NCT, SFCT, TCT), intraocular pressure (IOP) and pupil diameter (PD).

Materials and Methods

Patients with overactive bladder (OAB) diagnosed according to The International Continence Society were administered with solifenacin, darifenacin or propiverine on a daily basis between November 2017 and May 2018. NCT, SFCT, TCT, IOP, and PD of these patients were measured and compared as initial, fourth and twelfth weeks.

Results

A total of 165 patients (330 eyes) with OAB were evaluated. Solifenacin (n=140) significantly reduced IOP from 17.30±2.72 mmHg to 16.67±2.56 mmHg (p=0.006) and 16.57±2.41 mmHg (p=0.002), at the fourth and twelfth weeks, respectively. Darifenacin (n=110) significantly reduced NCT from 258.70±23.96 μm to 257.51±22.66 μm (p=0.002) and 255.36±19.69 μm (p=0.038), at the fourth and twelfth weeks, respectively. Propiverine (n=80) significantly increased PD from 4.04±0.48 mm to 4.08±0.44 mm (p=0.009) and 4.09±0.45 mm (p=0.001), at the fourth and twelfth weeks, respectively.

Conclusion

These findings can help to decide appropriate anticholinergic drug choice in OAB patients. We finally suggest further well-designed randomized prospective studies with a larger population to evaluate the anticholinergic-related complications in eyes.

The Prospective Health Assessment of Cataract Patients' Ocular Surface (PHACO) study: the effect of dry eye

Purpose

To determine the incidence and severity of dry eye as determined by the International Task Force (ITF) scale in patients being screened for cataract surgery.

Patients and methods

This was a prospective, multi-center, observational study of 136 patients, at least 55 years of age, who were scheduled to undergo cataract surgery. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of dry eye as evaluated by grade on the ITF scale and secondary outcome measures include tear break-up time (TBUT), ocular surface disease index score, corneal staining with fluorescein, conjunctival staining with lissamine green, and a patient questionnaire to evaluate symptoms of dry eye.

Results

Mean patient age was 70.7 years. A total of 73.5% of patients were Caucasian and 50% were female. Almost 60% had never complained of a foreign body sensation; only 13% complained of a foreign body sensation half or most of the time. The majority of patients (62.9%) had a TBUT ≤5 seconds, 77% of eyes had positive corneal staining and 50% of the eyes had positive central corneal staining. Eighteen percent had Schirmer’s score with anesthesia ≤5 mm.

Conclusion

The incidence of dry eye in patients scheduled to undergo cataract surgery in a real-world setting is higher than anticipated.