CLINICAL UROSELECTIVITY - A 3-YEAR FOLLOW-UP IN GENERAL-PRACTICE

The objectives of this open-labeled study were to assess the clinical uroselectivity of alfuzosin in a long-term follow-up study in general practice. A total of 3,228 patients with clinical benign prostatic hyp erplasia (BPH) from 812 centers were included in a prospective 3-year open-labeled study and treated with alfuzosin (immediate-release formu lation) at the recommended dosage. Symptom score (Boyarsky, modified) and a 20-item BPH-specific health related quality of life (HRQL) score (Urolife(TM) BPH QoL 20), which included three questions on sexuality , were self-administered at baseline, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 mont hs. Symptom score was significantly reduced by 54% at 3 months and thi s reduction was maintained up to 36 months; the HRQL score was signifi cantly improved by 45.4% at 12 months and this improvement was also ma intained up to 36 months. Alfuzosin was well tolerated: the quantitati ve and qualitative distribution of adverse events (AEs) was similar to that previously observed in placebo-controlled studies. 4.2% of the p atients dropped out due to AEs. This study confirms the long-term safe ty profile of alfuzosin in general practice and highlights the need to measure HRQL in the context of clinical uroselectivity.