Tamsulosin for voiding dysfunction in women

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) affect countless individuals worldwide with an increased prevalence among those ≥60 years of age. As the world’s population ages, the prevalence of LUTS will continue to increase, diminishing the quality of life of many men and women. For men, alpha-1-adrenergic receptor (α₁-AR) blockers are used as first-line therapy to mitigate bothersome LUTS, but for women with LUTS, few treatments have been adequately studied. However, new research has emerged evaluating the use of tamsulosin and other α₁-AR blockers in female LUTS. Thus, the purpose of this review is to evaluate clinical trials using tamsulosin for the treatment of LUTS in women to determine if tamsulosin is an appropriate treatment option.

A comprehensive search of the MEDLINE (1966-May 2012) and EMBASE (1980-May 2012) databases was performed. Additional articles were retrieved by manual review of the references cited in publications from the database search. Five published clinical trials and two abstracts were identified.

All seven trials presented in this review demonstrated statistically significant primary outcomes with use of tamsulosin in female LUTS, especially in women with predominant voiding dysfunction. Such efficacy measures included a reduction in urinary symptoms as well as improvements in quality of life and sleep quality. Tamsulosin was found to be safe and well tolerated in all studies reviewed.

Consistent positive findings across multiple clinical studies suggest that in women with LUTS, particularly those with voiding dysfunction, tamsulosin may be an effective and safe treatment option.