2nd Department of Urology, Papageorgiou General Hospital, Centre for Study of Continence and Pelvic Floor Disorders, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Eur Urol. 2009 Dec;56(6):937-47. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2009.07.050. Epub 2009 Aug 12.
Few comparisons have been made of health care seeking behaviour for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) between men and women, as well as trends across age groups.
To investigate the bother from LUTS and effect on health care seeking in both men and women of different age groups and in comparison between the two genders.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A representative cross section of each of 13 clinics of a general academic hospital, with equal numbers of subjects recruited in each of six design cells that were defined by age (18-40, 41-60, 61-80 yr) and gender.
A 2-h in-person interview, conducted by a trained psychologist/interviewer in a clinic office.
Severity of LUTS was measured by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Treatment seeking was measured by a single item. A bother question was modified to assess overall bother. Impact on quality of life (QoL) was measured by the IPSS QoL question.
The final study sample comprised 415 patients. More women than men reported the presence of LUTS (85.5% vs 75.2%; p=0.01). LUTS were more bothersome in women (25.4% of women vs 17.6% of men with bother "some" or "a lot"; p=0.02). Severity of LUTS increased with age in both genders (men: p<0.001; women: p=0.03). Bother from LUTS increased as severity of symptoms increased in both genders (p<0.001) but was associated with age only in men (p<0.001). QoL showed similar results as bother. Although men and women had equal prevalence of treatment seeking (27.9% vs 23.7%; p=0.40), men, but not women, were more likely to seek treatment as age (p<0.01) and severity of LUTS (p<0.001) increased. In multivariate logistic regressions, only bother from LUTS was associated with treatment seeking in women, compared with bother, age, and the presence of voiding symptoms in men.
In our hospital-based sample, differences in LUTS frequency, bother, and health care seeking profiles between men and women suggest a different perception and response to LUTS between the two genders.
鲜有研究比较过男性和女性下尿路症状（LUTS）的就医行为，以及各年龄段的变化趋势。
调查不同年龄段男性和女性的 LUTS 困扰程度以及对就医的影响，并比较两性之间的差异。
设计、地点和参与者：在一家综合学术医院的 13 个诊所中，每个诊所都有代表性的横断面，每个设计单元招募相同数量的受试者，共 6 个设计单元，根据年龄（18-40、41-60、61-80 岁）和性别划分。
由一名经过培训的心理学家/访谈者在诊所办公室进行 2 小时的面对面访谈。
LUTS 的严重程度通过国际前列腺症状评分（IPSS）进行测量。治疗寻求通过一个单一的项目进行测量。修改了一个困扰问题，以评估总体困扰程度。生活质量（QoL）的影响通过 IPSS QoL 问题进行测量。
最终的研究样本包括 415 名患者。报告存在 LUTS 的女性多于男性（85.5% vs 75.2%；p=0.01）。女性的 LUTS 更为困扰（25.4%的女性表示“有些”或“非常”困扰，而男性则为 17.6%；p=0.02）。两性的 LUTS 严重程度均随年龄增加而增加（男性：p<0.001；女性：p=0.03）。困扰程度随着症状严重程度的增加而增加，两性均如此（p<0.001），但仅与男性的年龄相关（p<0.001）。生活质量与困扰程度呈现出相似的结果。尽管男性和女性的治疗寻求率相等（27.9% vs 23.7%；p=0.40），但随着年龄（p<0.01）和 LUTS 严重程度（p<0.001）的增加，男性更倾向于寻求治疗。多变量逻辑回归分析显示，仅女性的 LUTS 困扰与治疗寻求相关，而男性则与困扰、年龄和排尿症状的存在相关。
在我们的基于医院的样本中，男性和女性在 LUTS 发生率、困扰程度和医疗保健寻求方面的差异表明，两性对 LUTS 的感知和反应不同。
