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Dena Owens – (901) 448-4072

 

 

 

Researchers at

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Study Urinary Urge Incontinence in Women

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Memphis, Tenn. (March 17, 2009) – The Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is conducting a research study on urinary urge incontinence in women over the age of 18.  The research, referred to as the “Bridges” study, could mean that help is on the way for a distressing problem that affects a wide range of women. Recruitment for study volunteers is currently in progress.  Women with frequent urinary urges or an “overactive bladder” are encouraged to participate.

 

Nearly 35 percent of women over the age of 40 experience urinaryincontinence, which is associated with increased social isolation, falls and fractures.  Women report that urinary incontinence is uncomfortable and embarrassing, and the inconvenience prompts them to seek treatment from their primary health care providers.  However, primary care providers often have difficulty accurately diagnosing the specific type of urinary incontinence experienced by a woman.  If this common condition could be precisely diagnosed and treated by the primary care provider, the advancement would mean a considerable public health benefit for women.

 

The Bridges study’s purpose is to determine if answers to a simple questionnaire can provide an accurate diagnosis of urinary urge incontinence that could be used by primary care providers.  To treat women diagnosed with this problem, Bridges is using an FDA-approved medicine for urge incontinence called “fesoterodine” (ToviazÒ).

 

Bridges participants are asked to make a total of four clinic visits and one phone visit during the first stage of the study, which takes place over a three- month period. Study visits take place at the Department of Preventive Medicine’s East Memphis clinic located at 756 Ridge Lake Blvd.  After the initial three-month period, study volunteers will have the option to continue in Bridges for nine additional months.  During this period, all volunteers will receive fesoterodine.  Information gained in this study could develop into a better way of diagnosing patients with this condition in the future.

 

There is no cost to participate in the study and the medication is provided at no cost.  Compensation is offered for a volunteer’s time and travel expenses.

 

Karen C. Johnson, MD, UTHSC professor of preventive medicine, is the principal investigator for the Bridges study.  For more information about Bridges or to become a study volunteer, please contact the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Department of Preventive Medicine at 901-448-8400.

 

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is focused on a four-tier mission of education, research, clinical care and public service, all in support of a single goal: to improve the health of Tennesseans.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  UTHSC has additional College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy campuses in Knoxville, and a College of Medicine campus in Chattanooga.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

 

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