Life-style in patients with LUTS suggestive of BPH.

Background: Owing to the existing controversy about the role of life-style in the pathogenesis of BPH, the possible associations of LUTS and prostate enlargement with alcohol intake, coffee consumption, smoking, physical activity, body mass index (BMI) and concomitant diseases were studied in the large series of patients of the QUIBUS study.

Results: Among concomitant diseases, essential hypertension was the most represented. However no apparent additive or synergistic influence on symptoms was recorded in this subset of the population. Coffee consumption was not associated with prostate volume or LUTS. Alcohol consumption was associated with urgency and intermittence and with an overall higher IPSS. No major influence on symptoms was found in smokers. Physical activity was associated with a lower frequency of incomplete bladder emptying, repeated urination, intermittence and urgency. The postulated existence of an association between BMI and BPH was not confirmed in this study. When a prediction of the IPSS scores was tempted by entering the life-style factors in a multiple regression model, they were able to explain at best 5% of the variance of the dependent variable.

Conclusion: Life-style patterns bear a greater influence on individual symptoms than on total scores. This difference is sometimes high enough to recommend specific life-style measures to patients with LUTS and prostate enlargement.