title: Clinical impact of tamsulosin on generic and symptom-specific quality of life for benign prostatic hyperplasia patients: using international prostate symptom score and Rand Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Health Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the efficiency of alpha1-blocker treatment on disease-specific and generic quality of life (QOL) in men with clinically diagnosed benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), the improvement of QOL scores with International prostate symptom score (I-PSS) and Rand Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) was prospectively analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 68 newly diagnosed patients with symptomatic BPH that satisfied all inclusion and none of the exclusion criteria were prospectively recruited. All patients received 0.2 mg/day of tamsulosin for 12 weeks. All patients underwent pretreatment documentation of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and assessment of symptom-specific QOL. Symptoms and general health-related QOL (HRQOL) were assessed using the I-PSS and SF-36, respectively. Also, other objective variables, such as prostate volume, maximal urinary flow and postvoid residual urine volume, were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 12 weeks, decrease in I-PSS was 27% compared with baseline (from 16.4 +/- 7.18 to 11.9 +/- 7.56). All questionnaires in the I-PSS showed improvement after tamsulosin treatment and the I-PSS QOL score was improved from 4.51 +/- 1.14 to 3.17 +/- 1.38 (P < 0.0001) at 12 weeks after tamsulosin administration. In intragroup comparisons of HRQOL scores with age-gender adjusted SF-36 Japanese national norms, three SF-36 subscales (bodily pain, BP; social function, SF; and mental health, MH) were worse in the BPH group aged over 70 years, while younger BPH groups aged <70 had better mean SF-36 physical function (PF) scores compared with age-gender adjusted Japanese national norms. In the BPH group with a prostatic volume > or =20 mL, three mean SF-36 scales (BP, SF and MH) were significantly improved after tamsulosin treatment. It is noteworthy that these SF-36 subscales were identical to those observed to worsen in the older BPH group compared to Japanese national norms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment with tamsulosin for symptomatic BPH patients is associated with significant improvement in the generic HRQOL, in addition to disease-specific QOL and symptoms, at 3 months after drug administration. In particularly, for generic HRQOL with SF-36, tamsulosin treatment can efficiently improve three mean SF-36 subscales (BP, SF and MH) that are decreased in older BPH patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan. hirosuzu@faculty.chiba-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Awa
authors.forename: Hiroomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakatsu
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Egoshi
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mikami
authors.forename: Sho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamano
authors.forename: Takemasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohki
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000077409:Tamsulosin; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016055:Urinary Retention / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D013449:Sulfonamides; D000077409:Tamsulosin