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Clinical Research

Lower urinary tract symptoms among Caucasian-European men who have sex with men: findings from a real-life survey

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 18, pages 376–381 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Prevalence of and severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) according to male sexual orientation have been scantly analysed. We aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of LUTS in a cohort of Caucasian-European men who have sex with men seeking medical help for uroandrologic reasons other than LUTS.

METHODS:

Data from 949 consecutive individuals in an outpatient setting were analysed. Severity of LUTS was measured with the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Men with storage symptoms scored 1–3 and ⩾4 (of 15), and voiding symptoms scored 1–4 and ⩾5 (of 20) were considered as having mild and moderate-to-severe symptoms, respectively. For individual symptoms, patients with scores ⩾1 were deemed symptomatic (according to Apostolidis et al.15). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models tested the association between LUTS and sexual orientation.

RESULTS:

Complete data were available for 213 (22.4%) men who have sex with men (MSM) and 736 (77.6%) heterosexuals (mean age (s.d.): 41.0 (12.2) vs 39.9 (12.1) years). Compared with heterosexuals, MSM reported higher rates of total IPSS scores suggestive of moderate (21.6% vs 20%) and severe LUTS (3.8% vs 2.4%) (P=0.004). Similarly, MSM showed higher rates of mild (48.8% vs 45.2%) and moderate-to-severe (39.4% vs 30.4%) storage symptoms (all P<0.001), and of mild (45.1% vs 34.8%) and moderate-to-severe (20.2% vs 19.2%) voiding symptoms (all P<0.01). MSM status was an independent predictor of mild voiding symptoms (odds ratio (OR): 1.40; P=0.004), moderate-to-severe storage symptoms (OR: 1.40; P=0.04) and severe total IPSS (OR: 1.49; P=0.03), after adjusting for other variables.

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings suggest a higher prevalence and severity of LUTS in MSM compared with heterosexual men seeking medical help for uroandrologic reasons other than LUTS.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dana Kuefner, PhD, for reviewing the language in this manuscript. This study was approved by the Ethical committee of San Raffaele Hospital and all participants provided their informed consent before participation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, URI-Urological Research Institute, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    L Boeri, P Capogrosso, E Ventimiglia, A Serino, G La Croce, A Russo, G Castagna, R Scano, A Briganti, F Montorsi & A Salonia

  2. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    P Capogrosso, E Ventimiglia, G La Croce, A Russo, G Castagna, A Briganti, F Montorsi & A Salonia

  3. Research Doctorate Program in Urology, Magna Graecia University, Catanzaro, Italy

    A Briganti & R Damiano

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  1. L Boeri
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Correspondence to A Salonia.

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Boeri, L., Capogrosso, P., Ventimiglia, E. et al. Lower urinary tract symptoms among Caucasian-European men who have sex with men: findings from a real-life survey. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 18, 376–381 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/pcan.2015.41

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