Similar symptoms and confounding conditions: benign prostatic hyperplasia versus hyperglycemia.

The traditional approach to diagnosing men with symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) based on the American Urological Association symptom index may be limiting. There are often concurrent conditions that may be responsible for the urinary complaints of men with BPH, namely hyperglycemia. Both conditions manifest many of the same symptoms and complaints by patients, but treatment of one can lead to a missed diagnosis of the other.

Depressive symptoms in women with urinary incontinence: a prospective study.

In this prospective study, the incidence of depression in women who suffer from urinary incontinence (UI) is examined. Although the literature has confounding information directly linking depression to UI, this study revealed depression was significantly higher in women with UI as opposed to their counterparts without UI.

Impact of commercial marketing on patient demand.

This pilot study attempts to determine the impact of commercial direct-to-consumer advertising on the incidence of patients requesting medication for urinary incontinence by brand name. Of 310 patients interviewed prior to urodynamics, 237 (76%) sought treatment after seeing related commercials. After testing, 119 (50.2%) were prescribed the advertised drug for detrusor instability. Fifty-nine (24.8%) were diagnosed with intrinsic sphincter deficiency and were recommended anticholinergics, collagen injections, or surgery. Forty-one (17.2%) men were found to have bladder outlet obstruction, but only four were prescribed the advertised drug. Three (1.2%) were recommended intermittent catheterization along with the advertised drug and 15 (6.6%) had various other treatments. The results suggest that 50% of those seeking treatment were not candidates for the medication advertised.