Correlation between the International Prostate Symptom Score and sonographic parameters in patients with symptomatic benign prostate enlargement

Background: Benign prostate enlargement is a common urological condition in the aging male that causes lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The study was aimed at determining the correlation between International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and sonographic parameters in a cohort of men attending the outpatient urology clinic of our teaching hospital. Methods: One hundred and fifty consecutive patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled into the study. The severity of LUTS was assessed using the IPSS questionnaire. Prostate volume (PV), bladder wall thickness (BWT), and postvoid residual (PVR) were determined via transabdominal ultrasound using Toshiba Nemino XG (Osaka Japan) with probe frequency 3.5MHz. The data were collected into a pro forma and analyzed using SPSS version 22 (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). The data were subjected to Pearson's correlation and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The 150 patients who were enrolled had an age range of 46–85 years, while the mean age was 63.37 ± 9.45 years. The mean total IPSS was 17.58 ± 7.69. The PV, BWT, and PVR had a mean of 71.96 ± 48.75 ml, 4.63 ± 1.99 mm, and 48.01 ± 59.17, respectively. There was a weak correlation between the total IPSS and PV (r = 0.118; P = 0.149), BWT (r = 0.174; P = 0.03), and PVR (r = 0.118; P = 0.151). Correlating voiding and storage symptoms with PV showed a poor correlation. There was a statistically significant correlation between voiding symptoms and BWT (r = 0.255; P = 0.002). Conclusion: There was no correlation between total IPSS and PV with PVR. Total IPSS and voiding symptom scores had a statistically significant positive correlation with BWT.