TUESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of behavioral therapy to tolterodine treatment reduces incontinence in urge-incontinent women during active treatment only, according to a report in the Aug. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Kathryn L. Burgio, Ph.D., from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues conducted a 10-week open-label trial of extended-release tolterodine alone or with behavioral training (daily bladder diary and recommendations for fluid management) in 307 women with urge-predominant incontinence.
The researchers found that more patients receiving the combination treatment had a reduction in incontinence of at least 70 percent at 10 weeks (69 versus 58 percent). Combination therapy also led to greater improvements at 10 weeks and eight months for satisfaction and perceived improvement but not health-related quality of life. Adverse events were not common and occurred to a similar extent in both groups, the investigators found. Both groups were also equally successful at discontinuing treatment at eight months (41 percent in both groups), the report indicates.
"The addition of behavioral training to drug therapy may reduce incontinence frequency during active treatment but does not improve the ability to discontinue drug therapy and maintain improvement in urinary incontinence," Burgio and colleagues conclude. "Combination therapy has a beneficial effect on patient satisfaction, perceived improvement, and reduction of other bladder symptoms."
The study was partially funded by Pfizer, which also provided the study drugs, and many of the study's authors have financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.
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