title: Prevalence of BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms in West Africans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  BPH and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are very common among older men in Western countries. However, the prevalence of these two conditions in the developing countries is less clear.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the age-standardized prevalence of BPH and/or LUTS among West Africans in a probability sample of 950 men aged 50-74 in Accra, Ghana, with no evidence of biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer after screening with PSA and digital rectal examination (DRE). Information on LUTS was based on self-reports of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). BPH was estimated using DRE, PSA levels and imputed prostate volume.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of DRE-detected enlarged prostate was 62.3%, while that of PSA≥1.5 ng ml(-1) (an estimate of prostate volume ≥ 30 cm(3)) was 35.3%. The prevalence of moderate-to-severe LUTS (IPSS≥8) was 19.9%. The prevalence of IPSS≥8 and an enlarged prostate on DRE was 13.3%. Although there is no universally agreed-upon definition of BPH/LUTS, making comparisons across populations difficult, BPH and/or LUTS appear to be quite common among older Ghanaian men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that after age standardization, the prevalence of DRE-detected enlarged prostate in Ghanaian men is higher than previously reported for American men, but the prevalence of LUTS was lower than previously reported for African Americans. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and identify the risk factors for BPH in both Africans and African Americans.
authors.affiliation: UC Berkeley School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA. anandc@berkeley.edu
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Chokkalingam
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Yeboah
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demarzo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Netto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Biritwum
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tettey
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adjei
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jadallah
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Partin
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roehrborn
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Hsing
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D051517:Digital Rectal Examination; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057566:Self Report