title: Prostatism symptoms in a randomly selected population: introduction of a patient administered population based symptom evaluation score.
abstract: A questionnaire concerning micturition symptoms and bother was answered by 2559 (66%) randomly selected males. Voiding problems increased with age from about 4 to 40%. The symptoms were weakly but significantly correlated to each other (rs < 0.55). The ability of a particular symptom question to predict whether a subject actually would seek a doctor was generally low. A score system with a maximum score of 33 points was constructed. If prostatism was defined as a certain score or higher, a change in the definition in the score interval 4-10 would change the number of subjects with this syndrome with approximately 10%/score point. As a consequence of the results, the use of a symptom score as a criterion for the decision to treat patients suffering from prostatism is challenged. A patient administered symptom evaluation from is strongly recommended to obtain a more objective symptom registration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology and Surgery, Central Hospital, Halmstad, Sweden.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zdanowski
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spångberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology