Patient Experience of Antimuscarinic Treatment for Overactive Bladder: A Qualitative Exploration of Online Forum Content

The objective of this study is to qualitatively explore patient experience of antimuscarinic medications used for overactive bladder using reviews on Drugs.com. Study Design We examined reviews prior to February 2, 2020 (available since 2008) for oral antimuscarinic medications. User content was reviewed qualitatively via inductive content analysis. Investigators coded third-party impressions, categorizing each review as positive, mostly positive, mostly negative, or negative. The prevalence of side effects, themes, and impressions are described, with comparisons by drug using χ2, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, as appropriate. Correlation between ordinal and categorical variables was performed using Tau and Spearman correlation coefficients, respectively. Results We analyzed 469 user reviews. 68.2% reported symptom improvement. The most common side effects were dry mouth (29%) and fatigue (10.7%). Fewer neurologic side effects were reported in the solifenacin (13.9%) and trospium (none) groups (P = 0.009). Tolterodine and trospium immediate release had lower rates of ears, nose, and throat side effects (22.5% and 26.2%, respectively, P = 0.001.) Analysis of themes suggested 2 domains driving overall satisfaction: improvement and side effects. Improvement was associated with a positive satisfaction score (ρ = 0.64, P
Source: Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery - Category: OBGYN Tags: AUGS Special Issue Submission Source Type: research