EFFECTS OF FINASTERIDE ON HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN MEN WITH SYMPTOMATIC BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA

The effects of urinary symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQ L) are important in therapeutic decision making. Few have evaluated th e treatment effects on HRQL in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia ( BPH), even though increased urinary symptoms are associated with great er worry, bother, and interference with living activities. We report o n patient assessments of such disease-specific measures as well as gen eral HRQL measures from two placebo-controlled clinical trials of fina steride in the treatment of symptomatic BPH. Patients treated with fin asteride appeared to have greater improvement than placebo-treated pat ients in disease-specific measures and in patient global assessment. T he treated group appeared to have a greater mean increase in sexual do main scores. As expected, general measures (health rating, life satisf action, ladder of life) changed little. Thus, treatment with finasteri de appears to reduce bother, worry, and activity interference due to s ymptoms but in a small percentage of men may lead to slightly reduced sexual function. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.