PURPOSE: The overall objective of the survey was to systematically examine patients' perspectives on lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and their treatment in Southeast Asia.
METHODS: A multinational cross-sectional survey involving adult men seeking consultation at urology outpatient clinics because of LUTS in Southeast Asia was conducted using convenience sampling. Self-reported prevalence, bother, treatment and treatment satisfaction of selected LUTS including urgency, nocturia, slow stream, and post-micturition dribble were evaluated.
RESULTS: In total, 1535 eligible patients were enrolled in the survey. A majority of respondents were aged 56-75 years, not employed, and had not undergone prostate operation before. Overall, the self-reported prevalence of nocturia was 88% (95% CI 86-90%), slow stream 61% (95% CI 59-63%), post micturition dribble 55% (95% CI 52-58%), and urgency 52% (95% CI 49-55%). There were marked differences in the country specific prevalence of LUTS complaints. Frequently, symptoms coexisted and were combined with nocturia. More than half of patients felt at least some degree of bother from their symptoms: 61% for urgency, 57% for nocturia, 58% for slow stream, and 60% for post-micturition dribble. Before seeing the present urologists, nearly half of patients have received some form of prescribed treatment and more than 80% of patients indicated they would like to receive treatment.
CONCLUSION: Men who sought urologist care for LUTS often presented with multiple symptoms. Nocturia emerged as the most common symptom amongst the four core symptoms studied.
Study site in Malaysia: Urology clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia