Variation in Cardiovascular Risk Related to Individual Antimuscarinic Drugs Used to Treat Overactive Bladder: A UK Cohort Study

BackgroundBlocking muscarinic receptors could have an effect on cardiac function, especially among elderly patients with overactive bladder (OAB). Study ObjectiveTo investigate the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events in users of antimuscarinic drugs to treat OAB. Design, Setting, and ParticipantsCohort study of new users of darifenacin, fesoterodine, oxybutynin, solifenacin, tolterodine, or trospium, 18years or older, in the United Kingdom's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), 2004-2012. Outcome Measurements and Main ResultsUsing tolterodine as the reference, we estimated propensity-score-stratified incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for acute myocardial infarction, stroke, CV mortality, major adverse cardiac events (MACE, a combined end point of the previous three), and all-cause death for individual antimuscarinic drugs. The study cohort included 119,912 new users of OAB drugs. The mean age at cohort entry was 62years, 70% were female, and the mean follow-up was 3.3years. The adjusted IRR for MACE and current use of oxybutynin compared with current use of tolterodine was 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.30). In contrast, the IRR was 0.65 (CI 0.56-0.76) for current use of solifenacin compared with tolterodine. In this study, performed with health care data, the distribution of risk factors was relatively similar across users of different OAB drugs and, although our analyses controlled for a range of measured potential confounders, residual confounding cannot be ruled out. ConclusionsIn an observational comparative study of users of medications to treat OAB conducted in routine clinical practice, the risk for CV side effects was increased in users of oxybutynin and decreased in users of solifenacin compared with users of tolterodine.