Botox May Help Incontinence, Study Indicates

The anti-wrinkle injection Botox, made of the botulinum toxin, may lessen episodes of urinary incontinence, researchers said on Tuesday in a study paid for by the drug's maker, Allergan Inc. Among 59 individuals tracked over a 26-week period, patients given the botulinum toxin injection had an average 32 percent to 58 percent drop in incontinence events, versus no change in a placebo group. The most significant side effects occurred in the groups getting Botox. Rates of urinary tract infections were about 21 percent among patients in a low-dose group, 31 percent in a higher-dose group, and about 14 percent in the placebo group. Results of the study, performed by researchers at the University Hospital Balgrist in Zurich, Switzerland, were presented at a medical meeting in San Antonio, Texas.