Relationship between Metabolic Syndrome and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: Hallym Aging Study

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that the metabolic syndrome (MS) is linked to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in Korean men. This was a longitudinal study that used data collected from 328 men aged 50-89 years who were randomly selected among 1,520 participants in 2004. We collected information from 224 (68.3%) men among the original responders on the biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle, and economic factors in 2007. The prevalence of the MS was 187/328 (57.0%) in 2004 and 125/224 (55.8%) in 2007 among men, respectively. There was no significantly greater increase in the IPSS in men with the MS than in men without the MS over a 3-year period of time (2.0 ± 9.37 versus 3.0 ± 8.44, p = 0.402, resp.). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis with control for age and life style factors, the risk factors for moderate/severe LUTS were age and erectile dysfunction (p < 0.05). However, the presence of the MS did not increase the risk of moderate/severe LUTS (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.63-1.89, p = 0.748). Our cross-sectional and longitudinal risk factor analyses do not support the hypothesis that the MS is linked to LUTS in Korean men.