title: [Clinical management of patient with benign prostatic hyperplasia in Spain].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify clinical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Spain and its associated health care resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted through telephone interviews to general practitioners (GP) and urologists. Information about diagnosis, pharmacologic treatment and follow-up was collected. Results were clustered according to the key variables considered as drivers of clinical practice patterns: BPH diagnosis, severity classification, treatment initiation and follow up of patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  153 GP and 154 urologists participated in the study. 7 different clinical patterns were identified in primary care (PC). Resource use during diagnosis is relatively homogeneous, reporting a range of 2.0 to 2.6 visits employed and being the most frequent test performed PSA and urine test. Follow-up is heterogeneous; frequency of follow-up visits oscillates from 3.2 to 7.0 visits/patient/year and type of tests performed is different among patterns and within the same pattern. In Urology, 3 clinical patterns were identified. Resource use is homogeneous in the diagnosis and in the follow-up; urologists employed 2 visits in diagnosis and a range of 2.1 to 3.2 visits/patient/year in the follow-up. The most frequent tests both in diagnosis and follow-up are PSA and digital test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BPH management shows variability in PC, identifying 7 different clinical practice patterns with different resource use during the follow-up among patterns and within the same pattern. The implementation of clinical guidelines could be justified to reduce heterogeneity.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Urología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, España. cozarjm@yahoo.es
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cozar
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solsona
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brenes
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Pro
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: León
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Molero
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huerta
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pérez-Escolano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010173:Palpation; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014563:Urodynamics; D014572:Urology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen