Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men: A Review

Importance: Up to 40% of men older than 50 years have lower urinary tract symptoms, including urinary urgency, nocturia, and weak urinary stream, due to disorders of the bladder and prostate. These symptoms negatively affect quality of life and may be associated with urinary retention, which can cause kidney insufficiency, bladder calculi, hematuria, and urinary tract infections.

Observations: In men, lower urinary tract symptoms can be caused by bladder outlet obstruction secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an overactive bladder detrusor (a syndrome of urinary urgency and frequency), or both. Behavioral therapy, including pelvic floor physical therapy, timed voiding (voiding at specific intervals), and fluid restriction, can improve symptoms. Medications including α-blockers (such as tamsulosin), 5α-reductase inhibitors (such as finasteride), and phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (such as tadalafil) improve lower urinary tract symptoms (mean improvement, 3-10 points on the International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS], which ranges from 0-35, with higher scores indicating greater severity) and can prevent symptom worsening measured by increased IPSS greater than or equal to 4 points or development of secondary sequelae, such as urinary retention. Combination therapies are more effective than monotherapy. For example, α-blockade (eg, tamsulosin) combined with 5α-reductase inhibition (eg, finasteride) lowers progression risk to less than 10% compared with 10% to 15% with monotherapy. Treatment for overactive bladder detrusor, including anticholinergics (eg, trospium) and β3 agonists (eg, mirabegron), reduces voiding frequency by 2 to 4 times per day and reduces episodes of urinary incontinence by 10 to 20 times per week. Surgery (eg, transurethral resection of the prostate, holmium laser enucleation of the prostate) and minimally invasive surgery are highly effective for refractory or complicated cases of BPH, defined as persistent symptoms despite behavioral and pharmacologic therapy, and these therapies can improve IPSS by 10 to 15 points. Minimally invasive procedures, such as water vapor therapy (endoscopic injection of steam into BPH tissue) and prostatic urethral lift (endoscopic insertion of nonabsorbable suture implants that mechanically open the urethra), have lower complication rates of incontinence (0%-8%), erectile dysfunction (0%-3%), and retrograde ejaculation (0%-3%) but are associated with increased need for surgical retreatment (3.4%-21%) compared with transurethral resection of the prostate (5%) and holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (3.3%).

Conclusions and relevance: Lower urinary tract symptoms, defined as urinary urgency, nocturia, or weak stream, are common among men and are usually caused by BPH, overactive bladder detrusor, or both. First-line therapy consists of behavioral intervention, such as pelvic floor physical therapy and timed voiding, as well as pharmacologic therapy, including α-adrenergic blockers (tamsulosin), 5α-reductase inhibitors (finasteride), phosphodiesterase inhibitors (tadalafil), anticholinergics (trospium), and β3 agonists (mirabegron).