Healthcare resource use and costs of privately insured patients who switch, discontinue, or persist on anti-muscarinic therapy for overactive bladder

AbstractObjectives:To compare the healthcare costs of patients with overactive bladder (OAB) who switch vs persist on anti-muscarinic agents (AMs), describe resource use and costs among OAB patients who discontinue AMs, and assess factors associated with persisting vs switching or discontinuing.Methods:OAB patients initiating an AM between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2012 were identified from a claims database of US privately insured beneficiaries (n ≈ 16 million) and required to have no AM claims in the 12 months before AM initiation (baseline period). Patients were classified as persisters, switchers, or discontinuers, and assigned a study index date based on their AM use in the 6 months following initiation. Baseline characteristics, resource use, and costs were compared between persisters and the other groups. Resource use and costs in the 1 month before and 6 months after the study index date (for switchers, the date of index AM switching; for persisters, a randomly assigned date to reflect the dis...