title: Elderly men's quality of life and lower urinary tract symptoms: an intricate relationship.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) on the quality of life (QoL) in a group of elderly men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational clinical study contained 200 men recruited between March-September 2008 in the community and Urology and Geriatrics ambulatories. The data collected included health and sociodemographic conditions; the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS); an anxiety/depression inventory; the World Health Organization Quality of Life -Bref and -Old questionnaires (WHOQoL). Participants were classified according to IPSS: Group I (moderate/severe symptoms) and Group II (absence/mild symptoms) and 100 men were included in each group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The groups were statistically similar in sociodemographic, morbidity, and anxiety/depression scores. Both QoL scales showed significant lower median scores in group I in all parameters, except the global subjective self-evaluation of QoL. The domains social and environmental relations presented the most significative differences (p < 0.0005) in both questionnaires, and final mean WHOQoL-OLD score was lower in group I (p < 0.0005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For elderly men, moderate to severe LUTS do significantly impact almost all parameters of QoL proposed by the WHO, especially social and environmental relations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Urology, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. vitorpintarelli@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Vitor Last
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Pintarelli
authors.forename: Lygia Ferreira Gomes
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Perchon
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lorenzetti
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toniolo Neto
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dambros
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D014944:World Health Organization