Objective: Tolterodine, a drug for the treatment of overactive bladder symptoms, has a limited entry into the brain, which makes cognitive side effects seldom. However, some case reports have described central-nervous side effects such as sleepiness. The aim of this retrospective analysis was to investigate whether tolterodine-related effects on sleep stage parameters could be explained by different CYP2D6 metabolizer characteristics of subjects.
Methods: Data were taken from two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies conducted in a cross-over design. Forty-eight volunteers underwent 4 two-night attended polysomnographic studies. Subjective quality of sleep and cognitive function were assessed. A single dose of 4 mg tolterodine or placebo was administered before sleep. Forty-four volunteers gave informed consent for genotyping. We found 19 extensive metabolizers (EM), 20 intermediate metabolizers (IM), 4 poor metabolizers (PM) and 1 ultrarapid metabolizer. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding demographic data.
Results: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep duration as a percentage of total sleep time showed significant reduction (p=0.019) in the group carrying one or more deficient alleles (IM+PM). No significant difference was found with two active alleles of CYP2D6 in the EM group. REM latencies under tolterodine displayed a tendency towards prolongation, which was irrespective of the metabolizer status. Subjective sleep parameters did not show statistically significant changes after tolterodine. Cognitive skills were not affected.
Conclusion: Our retrospective analysis reveals that a decrease of REM sleep under tolterodine is found only in individuals carrying one or two deficient CYP2D6 alleles.