URINARY SYMPTOMS - PREVALENCE AND SEVERITY IN BRITISH MEN AGED 55 ANDOVER

Objective - To measure the prevalence and severity of urinary symptoms among men aged 55 and over in the British population. Design - Cross sectional population survey using a postal questionnaire. Setting - No rth West Thames health region. Subjects - 1480 men aged 55 years and o ver randomly selected from 8 general practices. Main outcome measures - Self reported frequency and severity of urinary symptoms, their both ersomeness and previous prostate surgery. Results - The response rate among eligible subjects was 78%. The prevalence of moderate and severe symptoms was 204 per 1000, rising from 160 per 1000 in the 55-59 age group to 259 per 1000 in the 70-74 age group and declining after the a ge of 80 to 119 per thousand in the 85+ age group. Twelve per cent of men reported previous prostate surgery, and the probability of having had surgery increases steadily with age. About a third of those underg oing surgery have recurrence or persistence of symptoms after surgery. Of men with moderate and severe symptoms, 27.9% reported that their s ymptoms were a medium or big problem, 36.9% reported that their sympto ms interfered with their daily activities at least some of the time, a nd 43.1% were unhappy or 'felt terrible' about the prospect of a futur e with their current symptoms. Conclusion - The prevalence of urinary symptoms in men is lower than previously reported, although there is a substantial number of men who are bothered by, or who find their live s adversely effected by them.