Analyzing and Characterizing Why Men Seek Care for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

The goal of this paper is to summarize existing literature on prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) that may be attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, LUTS/BPH), factors associated with seeking treatment and treatment success, and subjective and objective methods of evaluating LUTS.

Men primarily seek treatment for LUTS/BPH because bother overcomes barriers to treatment. Factors such as severity, bother, or persistence of symptoms primarily motivate individuals to seek treatment, while low-symptom severity mainly leads individuals to not seek treatment. Among men that seek treatment, nocturia and storage symptoms predominate. LUTS are assessed with self-report questionnaires; subjective evaluations translate moderately well to objective measurements of LUTS severity. Current symptom classifications and patient groupings may be overly simplified and not evidence-based. Further studies evaluating novel symptom clusters and patient-centered BPH treatment approaches can guide future treatment.