title: The value of international prostate symptom scoring system in the management of BPH in Jos, Nigeria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the value of international prostate symptom scoring (IPSS) system in management of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Jos, Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study of 104 newly diagnosed patients with BPH from June 2006 to July 2007. Patients' symptoms were initially evaluated by administering a pretreatment IPSS/Quality of Life Score (QOLS). This categorized patients into mild, moderate, and severe symptom groups. The mild symptom group had watchful waiting as mode of management. The moderate symptom group received doxazosin, an alpha blocker, while the severe symptom group had prostatectomy. A post-treatment IPSS/QOLS was administered 3 months after. Mean changes in IPSS/QOLS was calculated and subjected to paired student's t- test for significance in changes. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to test significance between correlations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of patients was 64.3 years. 3 patients (2.9%), 53 patients (51.0%), and 48 patients (46.1%) fell into the minor, moderate, and severe symptom categories, respectively. The QOLS correlated with IPSS. There was a mean change in symptom scores of +2.3 for the minor symptom category, -8.1 (P < 0.001) for IPSS and -1.7 (P < 0.001) for QOLS in the moderate symptom category, and -24.6 (P < 0.001) for IPSS and -4.0 (P < 0.05) for QOLS in the severe symptom category.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study has shown that IPSS is a valuable tool in management of patients with BPH.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Unec, Enugu, Nigeria. amuokwy@yahoo.com
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Amu
authors.forename: E I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Udeh
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Ugochukwu
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Dakum
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Ramyil
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000145:classification* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome