A community study of lower urinary tract symptoms in older men in Sydney, Australia

Background: The aim of the present paper was to determine the prevalence, b other attributable to and self-reported management of uncomplicated lower u rinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men aged 40-80 years in Sydney, Australia. Methods: A total of 340 randomly selected men aged 40-80 years (65% respons e rate) participated in a community-based study (computer-assisted telephon e survey). Results: Lower urinary tract symptoms are common: 54% of men needed to wake up at least once at night to urinate; 47% indicated they had terminal drib bling 'sometimes' or 'frequently'; 30% experienced urgency although few (4% ) had urge incontinence; 21% experienced hesitancy; and 19% could retain ur ine in their bladder during the day for no more than 2 hours. Urinary sympt oms correlated poorly with self-rated bother and there was no increase in a ge-specific prevalence of bothersome symptoms with increasing age. Only 37 (26%) men inconvenienced by urinary symptoms had seen a general practitione r (GP) about these symptoms in the last 5 years: of these, two-thirds had b een referred to a urologist and half of these received surgical treatment. Independent predictors of attending a GP were increasing age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 12.3; P = 0.0015); place of birth outside Australia (AOR = 3 .8; P = 0.0036) and anxiety about prostate cancer (AOR = 2.6; P = 0.0318), but not the degree of worry due to urinary symptoms. Conclusion: Lower urinary tract symptoms are common in men, but their exper iences of bother correlate weakly with symptoms and do not appear to influe nce referral and treatment. Public and professional campaigns might increas e wider understanding of the benefits of surgery for bothersome symptoms, n ot symptoms per se.