Prevalence And Characteristics Of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms In Men Aged Over 80

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Men's health;  Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 19 Jul 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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UroToday.com - Although previous studies have examined lower urinary tract symptoms in older male populations, this is, to our knowledge, the first in-detail analysis of LUTS in community-dwelling men aged over 80 years. The Rancho Bernardo Study has, to our knowledge, the highest mean age (75 years), largest proportion of men over the age of 80 years (1 in 3), and the oldest living study participant (97 years) of any community-based cohort thus far reported in association with male lower urinary tract health. While we found that LUTS prevalence increased steadily with age, prior analyses have produced inconsistent results in this regard.

The mean quality of life domain scores for the older men in this study were slightly higher than those for the younger men. Older men may perceive their urinary symptoms differently than younger men, and this would have potentially important implications for choice of treatment, since physicians may use the quality of life domain on the AUA-SI to determine the appropriateness of medical or surgical therapy or watchful waiting as primary treatment.

In our cohort, the prevalence and severity of LUTS continued to increase for men into their 90s. Compared to younger men, men over 80 were more likely to have LUTS and more likely to complain of incomplete emptying, frequency, urgency, and weak stream. These data show that although the prevalence of LUTS in older men is higher, the pattern of symptoms changes with age. Additional studies are needed to better understand these differences.

Written by J. Kellogg Parsons, MD, Jaclyn Bergstrom, MD, Jonathan Silberstein, MD, and Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com.

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