Incontinence related to management of benign prostatic hypertrophy

The prevalence of incontinence ranges from 11% to 34% among community-dwelling men aged > or =65 years.

The objective of this analysis was to determine the nature of incontinence diagnosed in men with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), focusing on its incidence, prevalence, diagnostic workup, and management.

A cohort of patients with BPH was identified in the Integrated Healthcare Information Services National Managed Care Benchmark Database (1997-2003). Age and duration in the database after the first diagnosis of BPH were used as matching strata. Therapeutic subgroups consisted of watchful waiting, alpha-blockers, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5ARIs), and BPH-related surgery.

A total of 411,658 males with BPH were identified from 12,298,027 males (3.3%). Of the BPH cohort, 2.7% (n = 11,172) were identified as having incontinence; of these, 57.8% of patients were > or =65 years of age. Alter applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, the final matched case-control sample included 6346 men as case subjects and 229,154 men as control subjects. The overall incidence of incontinence in this BPH sample was 1835/100,000/year, and the prevalence was 2713/100,000 men. In 48.5% of the incontinent men, the type of incontinence was not specified. Diagnostic testing was performed in 2.9% of men with incontinence. Conditional logistic regression analyses found that BPH-related surgery and alpha-blocker use increased the adjusted odds ratio for the risk of incontinence 3.1-fold, and 1.1- to 1.7-fold, respectively. The odds ratio of the risk of incontinence was not significantly increased with long-term 5ARI use.

Use of alpha-blockers, 5ARIs for the short term (<1 year), and BPH-related surgery were independently, significantly associated with BPH-related incontinence; 5ARI use for >1 year and watchful waiting were not. BPH-related incontinence may be related to progression of BPH or as a postsurgical complication. Patients with BPH should be asked specifically about incontinence, especially after BPH-related surgery, and undergo a full diagnostic workup for the diagnosis of urinary incontinence.