Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic obstruction in real life practice in France

The objective of this work is to describe the profile of prevalent and inci dent populations suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggest ive of benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) and to analyse the management of care by 620 general practitioners (GPs) in France in 1997 and 1998. Patient records were extracted from the THALES database. Special attention was giv en to the use of medical therapy and switch rates (ie change to another or combination with another drug). In real life practice (RLP) French GPs pred ominantly utilise alpha (1)-adrenoceptor antagonists for the treatment of L UTS. This is in agreement with available evidence from randomised controlle d trials (RCTs) with different medical therapies (alpha (1)-adrenoceptor an tagonists, finasteride, plant extracts). On the contrary, the relatively hi gh usage of phytotherapy might be explained by traditional and personal pre ferences. Using purely descriptive statistics, newer alpha (1)-adrenoceptor antagonists, alfuzosin and tamsulosin, seem to be the most frequently pres cribed medical therapy for new patients and are, moreover, associated with a low switch rate.