A community-based study of prostatic symptoms in singapore esuvaranathan

Purpose. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of prostatic symptoms, their bother, and related quality of life as well as health-seeking behaviour in men aged 40 and above in Singapore. Methods, A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in men aged 40 and above in Queenstown, Singapore. The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) for benign prostatic hyperplasia was used to score symptom severity objectively. Results obtained were compared with those from the US, Scottish and Japanese populations. Results. The prevalence of moderate to severe symptomatology was 10% after age-adjustment to match the 1990 Singapore population. The most prevalent symptoms were frequency (22.5%) and nocturia (21.5%) with consistently lower prevalence for bother (6.9% for both frequency and nocturia). The prevalence of prostatic symptoms were about 3 or more times lower than the Scottish, American and Japanese prevalences, whilst the prevalence of bother was about 10 times lower. For symptomatic individuals, there was poor correlation between symptom severity and bother scores. Bother scores correlated better to quality of life scores (r=0.50) and more closely associated with health seeking behaviour (p=0.03) than symptom severity scores (r=0.39; p=0.07). Conclusions. The prevalence of prostatic symptoms, their severity and bothersomeness were all relatively low in Singapore. Bother was not analogous to symptom severity and should be considered independently in clinical decisionmaking.