Involvement of magnitude of ambient temperature change in nonspecific effect in perceived placebo effect on lower urinary tract symptoms: study on switching of naftopidil in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Seasonal Changes in Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Japanese Men With Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Treated With α1-Blockers

PURPOSE

To investigate whether seasonal changes occurred in lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

METHODS

Patients aged 50 years and older with BPH treated with α₁-blockers were enrolled. The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL) score, maximum and average flow rate, voided volume, and postvoid residual volume were measured in summer and winter.

RESULTS

A total of 164 patients were enrolled. The total IPSS and QoL index did not show a significant difference between the 2 seasons. When the IPSS was divided into storage symptoms and voiding symptoms, storage symptoms in winter were substantially but nonsignificantly higher than those in summer (P=0.056). Of the 7 individual symptoms in the IPSS, a significant seasonal difference was observed only for nocturia, with a higher score in winter. Moreover, none of the uroflowmetric parameters showed a seasonal change. Voided volume had significant correlations with each symptom (urgency and nocturia) and overall subjective scores (storage, total IPSS, and QoL) exclusively in summer, while this correlation remained only for nocturia in winter.

CONCLUSIONS

As it has generally been assumed that LUTS deteriorate in winter, the present study corroborated that the severity of storage symptoms was higher in winter than in summer, even in patients treated with α₁-blockers. In contrast, a seasonal difference was not observed in the uroflowmetric parameters, which may be partly due to the loss of the correlation between subjective and objective measurements of storage symptoms in winter.

Association between ambient temperature and lower urinary tract symptoms: a community-based survey

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the individual change of International prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) in each patient by temperature conditions.

Materials and Methods

The severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) was explored using the IPSS and OABSS questionnaires that were completed by 2.486 subjects (923 males and 1.563 females) aged 60 years and older. Korea Meteorological Administration data was used to determine daily average temperature and daily temperature difference on the interview dates at each site.

Results

The mean IPSS and mean age for males was 13.45±8.24 and 75.03±6.20 years, respectively. The mean OABSS and mean age for females was 4.41±3.10 and 73.74±6.03years, respectively. Daily average temperature and daily temperature difference ranged from-3.4-28.3^oC and 2.2-16.9^oC, respectively. Age was a significantly risk factor for IPSS, OABSS, and QoL (P<0.001, <0.001, and 0.005, respectively). After multiple regression analysis, daily average temperatures did not show a statistically significant change in IPSS and OABSS. Only daily temperature differences were associated with male LUTS.

Conclusions

While LUTS could be worsened in low temperatures generally, IPSS and OABSS were not affected by daily average temperature conditions. Daily temperature differences may be more influential than daily average temperatures.