The Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men

Abstract

Objective: The studies evaluating, association between obesity and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are limited. Our study’s objective was to determine the correlation between obesity and LUTS in men.Methods: Information of 639 patients who were aged between 37 and 92, had not been treated for BPH before, had moderate or severe LUTS, had International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) ≥8 and had prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value less than 4 ng/ml was evaluated retrospectively. Measured Body Mass Index (BMI) was classified in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO).Results: A statistically significant difference was present between BMI groups with respect to post-void residual urine volume (PVR) (p=0.017). PVR level of the obesity group’s PVR level was found to be significantly lower when compared to the normal group (p<0.05). In patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), only PVR parameter among LUTS was found to differ significantly from BMI groups (p=0.037). In patients with DM, the mean of PVR of obese patients was detected to be significantly lower when compared to the mean of normal patients (p<0.05). In patients with cardiovascular disease (CD), only Qmax and Qave parameters were found to differ significantly from BMI groups. (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). In patients with CD, the mean Qmax of obese patients was significantly higher than the average of normal-weight patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: Although there is no association between obesity and LUTS except PVR, we think that the risk of obesity associated with DM and CD would significantly increase the risk of LUTS.