Lower urinary tract symptoms up frailty risk in elderly men

Older community-dwelling men with moderate or severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are more likely to have phenotypic frailty than those with milder LUTS, a recent study has found.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 5,979 elderly community-dwelling men (aged ≥65 years), in whom LUTS was assessed using the American Urologic Association Symptom Index. Frailty was assessed in terms of low lean mass, exhaustion, low physical activity, slowness, and weakness.

Most of the participants (n=3,230; 54 percent) had no or mild LUTS, and this group tended to be younger than their counterparts who had moderate (n=2,351; 39 percent) or severe (n=398; 7 percent) LUTS.

The crude prevalence rate of frailty increased according to LUTS severity: 7 percent in the none/mild group, 11 percent in the moderate group, and 18 percent in the severe group. Men who fulfilled at least three of the frailty phenotype components were deemed to be frail.

Similarly, the prevalence of intermediate-stage frailty, defined as having one or two of the phenotype components, shared a direct interaction with LUTS severity. The proportion of robust men, on the other hand, dropped with increasing LUTS severity.

Multivariable regression analysis confirmed that LUTS was a significant risk factor for frailty. Moderate LUTS, for instance, increased the odds of frailty by over 40 percent (odds ratio [OR], 1.41, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.14–1.74). Severe LUTS, in comparison, statistically increased the likelihood of intermediate-stage frailty (OR, 1.35, 95 percent CI, 1.06–1.73) and frailty (OR, 2.51, 95 percent CI, 1.76–3.55).