Clinical Practice Patterns for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: An Online Survey

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated Korean medicine doctors’ perspectives on clinical practice patterns in the process of developing Korean medicine clinical practice guidelines for benign prostatic hyperplasia.Methods: A questionnaire was developed for Korean medicine doctors. A total of 323 oriental medicine doctors participated in the survey, which was live for a total of 9 days from September 22, 2022, to September 30, 2022.Results: Regarding awareness of treatments for benign prostatic hyperplasia, 63.8% of respondents showed high awareness of Korean medical treatments. However, items such as diagnostic criteria (17.7%), evaluation methods (17.0%), and Western medical treatments (22.9%) showed low recognition rates. In clinical practice, 76.2% of respondents were found to treat five or fewer patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia per month, and the average treatment period was 1 to 3 months for most at 41.2%. Korean medicine doctors diagnosed benign prostatic hyperplasia based on clinical features. The main interventions used were acupuncture, herbal medicine (prescription medicine), and moxibustion. This study has several limitations because of the low response rate for this survey; therefore, the participants are not representative of all Korean medicine doctors. In addition, because the study was conducted broadly on various topics related to benign prostatic hyperplasia, sufficient quality management was not carried out. Further studies that include a larger sample size and more in-depth studies on benign prostatic hyperplasia are needed.Conclusions: It is necessary to develop appropriate and reasonable Korean medicine clinical practice guidelines for benign prostatic hyperplasia.