Three-year follow-up of a community-based cohort of men with untreated benign prostatic hyperplasia.
OBJECTIVE
To describe changes over 3 years in urinary symptom severity and bothersomeness and in interference caused by symptoms in selected everyday activities in a cohort of men with untreated benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).


METHODS
A prospective study of a community-based cohort of 217 men from Forth Valley, Scotland, which satisfied a working clinical definition of symptomatic BPH and had not received treatment, were followed up at 1 and 3 years.


RESULTS
Significant increases occurred in both mean symptom and bothersome levels for nocturia, urgency, dribbling, intermittency and incomplete emptying. Considerable proportions of men recorded changes in symptom levels, with the most fluctuation occurring for dribbling, weak stream and frequency-changes in bothersome levels showed a similar pattern. An increased number of men experienced some degree of interference in two or more selected everyday activities, but mean interference levels showed little change.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing trends in symptom prevalence, bother-someness and in the proportions of men experiencing interference in everyday activities were established over the 3 years, despite considerable within-subject variation.
Lee
A J
AJ
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Medical School, UK.
Russell
E B
EB
Garraway
W M
WM
Prescott
R J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012606:Scotland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*