[Assessment of prescribing practices in overactive bladder pharmacotherapy across different specialties of India: a prescription trend analysis].

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To assess the prescribing practices for overactive bladder (OAB) pharmacotherapy based on the prescription trend analysis across different specialties of India. METHOD: s IQVIA (Quintiles and IMS Health) secondary sales audit (SSA), as well as a prescription audit for antimuscarinics and beta-3 adrenoceptor agonists (mirabegron) from 2014 to 2021, were analyzed. The data includes SSA data of various antimuscarinics like solifenacin, oxybutynin, tolterodine, darifenacin, trospium and mirabegron change in the prescription trend of antimuscarinics and mirabegron across different specialties; prescribers overlap analysis for solifenacin and mirabegron among Indian urologists were also analyzed. RESULTS: Urologists prescription rates of OAB drugs were 65% in 2016 and 54% in 2021. The rate of OAB medication prescription by non-urologist was highest from the surgeon (11%), followed by gynecologists (9%) and consultant physicians (8%) in 2021. In addition, among OAB medication prescription rates for antimuscarinics were 100% in 2016 and 58% in 2021 whereas for mirabegron, it was 0% in 2016 and 42% in 2021. Solifenacin was most frequently prescribed anticholinergics, followed by oxybutynin, tolterodine, darifenacin, and trospium. The proportion of prescribers of OAB medication among urologists was 38% in 2016 and 33% in 2021. Exclusive prescribers of solifenacin were 748 in 2018 and 739 in 2021 at the urologist, whereas for mirabegron, it was 961 in 2018 and 934 in 2021. The compound annual growth rate for prescription of the last 6 years (from 2016-2021) for solifenacin and mirabegron was -3% and 8% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Urology remained a top prescribing specialty for OAB drugs, although prescription share increased at surgeon and consultant physician. OAB medicines prescriptions by urologists are shifting from leading antimuscarinic solifenacin to beta-agonist mirabegron. Data from this study will ultimately lead to the OAB medication preference by the specialist that could lead to more advanced OAB management.