Clinical characteristics and treatment correlates in patients with prostatism in a Kenyan Tertiary Centre

Abstract

Background: Prostatism, the urinary tract symptoms due to prostate disorders, is common among the aging males 50 years and above. The patient characteristics have not been studied adequately and the correlates with treatment mode need to be understood for the best intervention to be instituted.
Objective: To establish the patient characteristics and treatment correlates in patients presenting with prostatism in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret-Kenya.
Design: This was a two-year hospital-based cross-sectional survey of purposive consecutive sampling that used interviewer-administered questionnaire.
Setting: The Urology Clinic and ward of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret-Kenya.
Subjects: One hundred and twenty-six men aged 50 years and above presenting with prostatism.
Results: Majority of the patients (35.7%) were in the age group 51-60 years. The urinary symptoms were 53.2% obstructive, 9.5% irritative and 37.3% a combination of the two. More than half of the patients (50.8%) had had symptoms for over a year. There was 23.8% co-morbidity, 8.7% history of past admissions and 7.1% complication rate. The age, duration of symptoms and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) positively correlated with mode of treatment and the IPSS was a determinant of the treatment instituted.
Conclusion: Patients presenting with prostatism were largely in the sixth decade and majority had delayed presentation to hospital leading to co-morbidities and complications. The key correlates of treatment modes were age, duration of symptoms and the IPSS with the IPSS as a determinant of the treatment given