Overactive bladder medication prescription trends from 2014 to 2018

Purpose A growing literature points to an association between overactive bladder (OAB) medications and dementia. Given differences in side effects for extended-release (ER) and immediate-release (IR) anticholinergic formulations and beta-3 agonists, we examined prescription utilization patterns in a national dataset of older adults from 2014 to 2018. Methods We performed a retrospective study using the Medicare Part D Drug Spending Dashboard, a publicly available database that includes data from outpatient pharmacy claims from 2014 to 2018 in the United States. We identified total claims and total spending on common OAB medications, and further assessed trends by anticholinergic burden by medication, and immediate and ER formulations. Results There were 54.1 million claims for OAB medications, accounting for $10.1 billion (2018 United States dollars) in spending from 2014 to 2018. When considering beta-agonist, mirabegron accounted for 13.1% of total claims and 29.0% of total spending. Mirabegron accounted for a greater proportion of OAB medication claims and spending during the 5 years from 5.7% to 20.1% and 11.3% to 44%, respectively. IR anticholinergics accounted for fewer total claims over this period, from 58.5% to 42.6%. ER formulations increased in proportion of all OAB medication total claims from 35.8% to 37.5% from 2014 to 2016, and decreased to 37.3% by 2018. Conclusion OAB medications and expenditures increased from 2014 to 2018. Mirabegron accounted for higher proportions and IR-formulations for decreased proportions of each from 2014 to 2018. The impact on clinical outcomes is a key area for future investigation considering our findings.