Department of Urology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

To determine the role of treatment-associated improvement in nocturia in health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and secondarily to confirm the role of nocturia in HRQL at baseline and to compare the effects of watchful waiting, transurethral microwave treatment (TUMT) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) to those of alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists (alpha-blockers) on nocturia.

We retrospectively analysed using multiple regression a large single-centre database of patients receiving routine care for treatment-associated alterations of symptoms and HRQL (assessed at baseline, 2611 men) and 6-12 months after initiation of treatment (1258 men).

Among the symptoms assessed using the International Prostate Symptom Score, nocturia (together with urgency and weak stream) had the strongest correlation with HRQL at baseline and after treatment. Watchful waiting, alpha-blockers, TUMT and TURP reduced nocturia episodes by a mean (sd) of 7 (53)%, 17 (40)%, 32 (47)% and 75 (23)%, respectively. The treatment-associated improvements in nocturia (together with those of weak stream) had the strongest association with those of HRQL.

We conclude that among all LUTS assessed in the IPSS, nocturia has one of the strongest associations with HRQL, and that treatment-associated improvements in nocturia contribute considerably to overall improvements in HRQL.

Written by:
van Dijk MM, Wijkstra H, Debruyne FM, de la Rosette JJ, Michel MC.   Are you the author?

Reference:
BJU Int. 2009 Oct 26. Epub ahead of print.
doi:10.1111/j.1464-410X.2009.08969.x

PubMed Abstract
PMID:19863526

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