The Prevalence of Prostatitis-Like Symptoms in China

Purpose

We studied the prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms and identified their associated risk factors in a population based Chinese sample.

Materials and Methods

A volunteer group of 15,000 eligible men residing in Beijing, Anhui, Xi'an, Guangzhou and Gansu cities or provinces were invited randomly to take part in the survey to complete a questionnaire that elicited information regarding sociodemographics, Eysenck personality questionnaire, current stress and health ratings, lifestyle, medical history, expressed prostatic secretion evaluation, score of the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index and International Index of Erectile Function-5.

Results

Information on 12,743 (84.95%) men was collected. Of these men 1,071 (8.4%) reported prostatitis-like symptoms (mean National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index pain score 7.55 ± 3.22). The percent of chronic prostatitis was 4.5% (571) among the symptoms group according to past urological history and expressed prostatic secretion evaluation. Subjects with prostatitis-like symptoms (mean age 34.56 ± 13.48 years) had higher mean pain and urinary symptoms scores (7.53 ± 3.22 and 2.84 ± 2.72, respectively) compared with subjects without prostatitis-like symptoms (1.18 ± 2.32 and 0.72 ± 1.66 for pain and urinary symptoms scores, respectively, mean age 30.7 ± 10.17) (pain and symptoms scores, p <0.05). The quality of life score was 6.03 ± 2.88 and 3.83 ± 2.55 in groups with symptoms or nonsymptoms, respectively (p <0.05).

Conclusions

Prostatitis-like symptoms are a multifactorial problem affecting men of all ages (15 to 60 years) and demographics, and the prevalence is high in China. The syndrome is closely related to alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, frequent intercourse, as well as fatigue, pressure and too little sleep. These findings suggest that risk factors for this condition are largely modifiable and highlight potential targets for future prevention.

Key Words: prostatitis, signs and symptoms, prevalence, China

Abbreviations and Acronyms: CP, chronic prostatitis, CPSI, Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, EPQ, Eysenck personality questionnaire, EPS, expressed prostatic secretion, NIH, National Institutes of Health, QOL, quality of life