The clinical uroselectivity of alfuzosin is not significantly affected by the age of patients with lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of the age of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) on the clinical uroselectivity of alfuzosin during general medical practice.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

The present national, multicentre, open-labelled, observational study involved 4018 Spanish outpatients with BPH, i.e. showing lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic obstruction. The patients received sustained release (SR) alfuzosin, 5 mg twice daily, for 2 months. The primary efficacy criteria were symptomatic improvements, as assessed by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and quality of life (QoL) index. Safety was assessed by monitoring cardiovascular data and adverse events.

RESULTS

The patients were divided into four age groups, i.e. < 56, 56-65, 66-75 and > 75 years. All groups of patients showed a mean IPSS decrease of 11-12 (55.8-65.4% from baseline) at the end of the study, while the QoL decreased by 2-3 points (55.6-63.6% from baseline). There were no relevant effects of age on the efficacy of the treatment. Moreover, alfuzosin was well tolerated independently of the age of the patient; 1.2% of the patients enrolled withdrew because of adverse events. The qualitative distribution of vasodilatory/nonvasodilatory adverse events was similar in all age groups. The incidence of asymptomatic orthostatic hypotension was low (0.58%) and not affected by the age of the patients.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms that the clinical uro-selectivity of SR-alfuzosin, already described in ran-domized controlled studies, is not significantly affected in clinical practice by the age of the patients. This is considered particularly relevant to the characteristics of patients with BPH, as they are mostly elderly men.