Effect of raloxifene on urinary incontinence: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the effect of 3 years of treatment with raloxifene on urinary incontinence in postmenopausal women.

METHODS

We used measures of urinary incontinence severity, frequency, and type in the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene trial, a multicenter randomized, controlled trial of women who were at least 2 years postmenopausal with osteoporosis. At 10 U.S. sites of this trial, 963 women randomly assigned to raloxifene or placebo completed questionnaires about incontinence at baseline and 3 years later. We analyzed the odds of worsening severity and frequency of incontinence and type of incontinence after 3 years of treatment with raloxifene.

RESULTS

The mean age of our subjects was 68.3 +/- 7 years. After 3 years of treatment, there was no significant difference between raloxifene and placebo groups in urinary incontinence severity (multivariable odds ratio [OR] 1.02; 95% [CI] 0.78, 1.34). The majority of the women (60%) had no change in urinary incontinence episodes from baseline to year 3. The odds of worsening urinary incontinence severity after 3 years of raloxifene treatment were 1.05 (95% CI 0.75, 1.48). Similarly, the odds of developing new onset incontinence were 0.95 (95% CI 0.59, 1.52). Finally, raloxifene did not effect the odds of having stress (OR 1.01; 95% CI 0.71, 1.43) or urge (OR 1.20; 95% CI 0.86, 1.68) incontinence after 3 years of use.

CONCLUSION

In postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, 3 years of treatment with raloxifene had no effect on urinary incontinence.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I