People who regularly have to use the toilet at night may benefit from an anticholinergic drug called solifenacin, new research shows.

Solifenacin is designed to treat overactive bladder in patients with or without urge urinary incontinence.

It works by reducing smooth muscle tone in the bladder, thereby allowing it to retain more urine and reducing episodes of adult incontinence and urgency.

According to a study in the Journal of Urology, men and women in Japan tended to have fewer episodes of nocturia if they took solifenacin.

Japanese researchers recruited 962 patients, all of whom were aged 20 or older and had overactive bladder issues.

They found that 10mg solifenacin was associated with 0.46 fewer episodes of nocturia per night, on average, compared with a placebo (dummy treatment).

The drug also helped to improve the length of undisturbed sleep among patients.

Study authors concluded: "Solifenacin 10mg decreases nocturia episodes. Solifenacin 5 and 10mg increases night-time volume voided per micturition (urination) and may improve quality of sleep and sleep-related quality of life in patients with overactive bladder."