SPECIFICITY OF THE AMERICAN-UROLOGICAL-ASSOCIATION VOIDING SYMPTOM INDEX - COMPARISON OF UNSELECTED AND SELECTED SAMPLES OF BOTH SEXES

The American Urological Association voiding symptom index questionnair e for benign prostatic hypertrophy was administered to an elderly unse lected sample and a selected urology clinic sample of both sexes to in vestigate the ability of this instrument to identify prostatic patholo gical conditions. The female subjects in these cohorts provided a cont rol. In the large unselected sample the male subjects scored statistic ally higher in only 2 categories, weak stream (487 subjects) and strai n (507) (p < 0.05 for both categories). The clinical significance of t hese scores is questionable, however, since they were low (less than 2 of 5). In the selected group (145 subjects) the female subjects showe d a higher total mean score due to the contribution of statistically h igher irritative scores (p < 0.05). We conclude that the American Urol ogical Association voiding symptom index does not specifically identif y prostatic pathological conditions, and that elderly men and women ha ve similar voiding symptom scores. Therefore, treatment that results i n improvement in symptom scores may not specifically affect the prosta te. Other factors, such as an aging detrusor, changes in physiological production of urine or other unknown factors, may contribute to the s ymptoms.