Inflammation in Women With Urgency Urinary Incontinence Treated With Anticholinergics

This study is designed as a prospective pilot study of women presenting to the Urogynecology clinic with urgency urinary incontinence symptoms who are offered treatment with a standard of care anticholinergic medication for six weeks. The patient will be asked to provide a catheterized urine sample at baseline and 6 weeks and blood draw only at baseline. Study participants will fill out a Urinary Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6) questionnaire at baseline and fill a bladder diary for 48 hours before starting the anticholinergic medication. The urine will be assessed by standard and enhanced urine cultures and DNA amplification and 16S rRNA sequencing for urinary microbiome along with inflammatory markers in the urine. Inflammatory markers in both the blood and urine will be measured using immunoenzyme assays. Measurements for microbiome will be repeated for all patients at 6 weeks. Baseline urinary symptoms at enrollment and variation of symptoms after 6 weeks of anticholinergic treatment will be assessed using the UDI-6 questionnaire and a bladder diary.