Maximum Urine Flow Rate of Less than 15ml/Sec Increasing Risk of Urine Retention and Prostate Surgery among Patients with Alpha-1 Blockers: A 10-Year Follow Up Study

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the subsequent risk of acute urine retention and prostate surgery in patients receiving alpha-1 blockers treatment and having a maximum urinary flow rate of less than 15ml/sec. METHODS We identified patients who were diagnosed with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and had a maximum uroflow rate of less than 15ml/sec between 1 January, 2002 to 31 December, 2011 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database into study group (n = 303). The control cohort included four BPH/LUTS patients without 5ARI used for each study group, randomly selected from the same dataset (n = 1,212). Each patient was monitored to identify those who subsequently developed prostate surgery and acute urine retention. RESULTS Prostate surgery and acute urine retention are detected in 5.9% of control group and 8.3% of study group during 10-year follow up. Compared with the control group, there was increase in the risk of prostate surgery and acute urine retention in the study group (HR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.16 to 2.91) after adjusting for age, comorbidities, geographic region and socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS Maximum urine flow rate of less than 15ml/sec is a risk factor of urinary retention and subsequent prostate surgery in BPH patients receiving alpha-1 blocker therapy. This result can provide a reference for clinicians.