title: Quick Prostate Test (QPT): motion for a tool for the active contribution of the general pratictioner to the diagnosis and follow up of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Less than 40% of men with LUTS consult their doctor. Patients consider the LUTS as physiological and are resigned to endure them. It is necessary to foster awareness of the micturition disorders, to monitor their development and to assess the effectiveness of therapies. At present the only validated test is the IPSS-Q8, but in Italy it is used by only 4% of General Practitioners (GPs). Because the IPSS is complex and not easy to handle, we need a more simple test but nevertheless efficient. The Italian Society of Urology (SIU) and the Italian Society for Interdisciplinary Primary Care (SIICP) presented the "Quick Prostate Test" (QPT) in November 2012. We aimed to evaluate the efficiency of QPT versus the IPSSQ8 and its suitability in primary care.
  
  
  METHODS
  The QPT is composed of 3 questions to be answered "yes" or "no." The answer "yes" just to one question makes "positive" the test. We enrolled 64 men, ≥ 50 years old, suffering from BPH, extracted from the database of five GPs. The patients were randomized into two arms: to the arm 1 only QPT was administered, to verify efficiency of the test; to the arm 2 both the QPT that the IPSS-Q8 were administered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Into the arm 1, the 96.4% has tested positive for QPT. Into the arm 2, the 89% of patients with one or two positive responses to the QPT showed a moderate IPSSQ8 score; the 75% of the patients with three positive responses to the QPT had a serious IPSS-Q8 score. The GPs (80%) have expressed the highest level of satisfaction for the QPT for the "time of administration" and for the "simplicity" of the test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The experience with the QPT has shown that the test is efficient and suitable in the primary care setting. We want to encourage the GPs to use the QPT for the monitoring of patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and to contribute to the validation of the test.
authors: Department of Urology - ASL BAT, Andria. peppealbino@hotmail.com.
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Albino
authors: Ciro Michele
authors: CM
authors: Niro
authors: Cristina
authors: C
authors: Muscarella
mesh_terms: D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires