ABSTRACT
Untreated, urinary urgency and incontinence can precipitate a vicious cycle of decreasing physical activity,
social isolation, fear-of-falling, and falls. The urge to urinate frequently can also limit physical activity - concern
for finding oneself too far from a bathroom can be a powerful motivator for just staying home. Structured
behavioral interventions or medications are common initial treatment options. But they elicit their effects
through very different mechanisms of action that may influence fall related outcomes differently. There is,
however, a critical lack of direct head-to-head trial evidence on non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic
treatments for urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), particularly in women with co-existing fall risk. The proposed
feasibility pilot study is a randomized, multi-arm, mixed methods, clinical trial comparing three currently in use
initial treatment options for older women: i) a 12-week structured behaviorally based pelvic floor muscle
training (PFMT) intervention administered by physical therapists in the clinic; ii) a 12-week course of the beta-3
agonist, Mirabegron; and iii) a 12-week course of the antimuscarinic, Trospium Chloride, in women 65 and
older with UUI or overactive bladder (OAB) who also screen positive for increased risk of falling. Mirabegron
and Trospium are not associated with longitudinal effects on cognition that the traditionally used anticholinergic
mediations have recently been linked to. Our Specific Aims are 1) Conduct a pilot study in clinical settings to
determine the feasibility of enrolling older women with UUI or OAB who are at high risk of falling in a three-arm
(PFMT, vs. mirabegron vs. Trospium), randomized comparative effectiveness trial; 2) Characterize outcomes
across the three interventions; and 3) Qualitatively explore perceived factors influencing the non-
pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatment experience in these patients. Forty-eight ambulatory women (16
per arm) 65 years and older with UUI or OAB and who screen positive for high fall risk will be randomized
(1:1:1) to one of three arms. Feasibility will be determined through key milestones on evaluability, adherence to
the interventions, attrition, adverse events, productive recruitment methods, and sample characteristics. We
will also measure important indicators of symptom severity, quality of life, physical activity, falls, and fear of
falling. Building upon our preliminary work, fall risk will be determined by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) fall risk screening tool. The
proposed study is the first to compare these common non-surgical treatments for UUI and OAB in a high fall
risk patient population and will lay the groundwork for a program of research investigating the bidirectional
relationships that exist across these two common geriatric syndromes both at the level of shared risk factors
and responses to treatment.
