Prostate calcification worsen lower urinary tract symptoms in middle-aged men.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between prostatic calcification and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in a sample of middle-aged men receiving health checkups. METHODS: Subjects aged 40 years or older who voluntarily underwent transrectal prostate ultrasound (TRUS) and fulfilled International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS) as part of their medical checkup were enrolled in this study. The prostatic calcification grading and prostate volume (PV) were measured by TRUS. The medical history, demographics, and metabolic markers were also evaluated. Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between prostatic calcification and LUTS. RESULTS: A total of 604 men were enrolled as study subjects. The prostatic calcification grading was significantly associated with age and PV instead of metabolic markers. Compared to the nonprostatic calcification group, the moderate/marked prostatic calcification group had a significantly higher age-adjusted IPSS (8.69 vs 6.87, P <.01), quality of life (QOL) score (2.57 vs 2.17, P <.01), storage score (3.74 vs 3.06, P = .01), voiding score (4.95 vs 3.72, P <.01), and more maximum flow rate <15 mL/sec (40.4% vs 24.5%, P <.01). Prostatic calcification grading was positively correlated with age-adjusted IPSS, QOL, voiding, and storage scores (all P for trend <.05). Further multivariate analysis indicated that moderate/marked prostatic calcification was an independent risk factors for moderate to severe LUTS (odds ratio [OR] = 1.68, P = .02). CONCLUSION: Prostatic calcification worsened IPSS, QOL, storage, voiding symptoms, and maximum urine flow (Qmax) in middle-aged men receiving a health checkup. Moderate/marked prostatic calcification was an independent risk factor for moderate to severe LUTS.