Predictors for surgical treatment in male patients with non-neurogenic lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS)

This study aimed to identify clinical and biochemical predictors for future surgical intervention in male LUTS patients.

In a prospective cohort study, parameters as International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and IPSS "bother question" (IPSS-BQ), prostate volume (PV), maximal urine flow (Qmax), Prostate specific antigen (PSA), post-voidal residual urine (PVR) were assessed alongside comorbidities quantified using Charlson Comorbidity Index without age adjustment and American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score. For the statistical analysis, patients were categorized based on subsequent treatment approaches: Group 1: underwent surgery during follow-up; Group 2: received medical or no treatment. T-test was used to test differences between the groups. Logistic regression models were used to identify independent predictors of the need for future surgery. Following this analysis, we calculated the probability of requiring surgical intervention, with this likelihood being determined based on the accumulation of identified predictive factors.

Of 63 patients, 22 underwent surgery over a median follow-up of 42 months. Significant baseline differences were observed in IPSS (p = 0.003), International Prostatic Symptom Score-Voiding subscore (IPSS-VS) (p = 0.002), IPSS-BQ (p = 0.001), Qmax (p = 0.007), and PVR (p = 0.02) between the groups. Higher IPSS-BQ, IPSS-VS, and lower Qmax are emerging as independent surgical treatment predictors in logistic regression analyses.

The study identified IPSS-VS, IPSS-BQ, and Qmax as baseline predictors of future surgical intervention. A clear pattern of a gradual increase in the likelihood of requiring surgery was directly proportional to the cumulative number of these identified predictive factors.