title: Population-level and Individual-level Bother of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Among 30- to 80-year-old Men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the bother using both population- and individual-level bother of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) across a wide age range among men.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 7470 men aged 30-80 years were approached using a postal questionnaire in 2004. The overall response was 58.7% (4384 respondents). The Danish Prostatic Symptom Score was used to evaluate bother of 12 LUTS. In the population-level analysis, prevalence of bother was calculated by relating the number of men with bother to the population size (instead of only affected men). To evaluate the bother at individual level, its prevalence among the men experiencing the symptom was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the population-level analysis, postmicturition dribble was the most common cause of bother among 30- and 40-year-old men, as 25% of the men experienced small bother and 4.5% had moderate to major bother. Men aged 70-80 years experienced the most bother from urgency followed closely by nocturia, with about 40% reporting small bother and roughly 20% moderate or major bother. When only symptomatic men were evaluated, incontinence symptoms, especially urge incontinence, were the most bothersome as more than 80% of the men with incontinence reported bother.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At population level, the most bothersome symptom varied by age. Men aged 30-40 years experienced bother most commonly from postmicturition dribble. With increasing age, urgency and nocturia became the most bothersome symptoms by age 70-80 years. At individual level, incontinence symptoms were the most bothersome LUTS, with less influence by age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Central Finland Central Hospital, Jyväskylä, Finland. Electronic address: antti.j.poyhonen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pöyhönen
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Anssi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Auvinen
authors.affiliation: Hatanpää Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Häkkinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tampere University Hospital and University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koskimäki
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tampere University Hospital and University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Teuvo L J
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Tammela
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063189:Symptom Assessment