Delayed presentation to the urologist by men with lower urinary tract symptoms: The facts and figures from a hospital-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) often present late. This work aims at studying the reasons for delayed presentation to the urologist by men with LUTS. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Delay was taken as 5 months of symptoms before consulting the urologist. The predictors assessed were age, occupation, education, number of children, number of brothers, number of wives, participants' location, and reason for delay. The outcome was the proportion of men with symptoms of more than 5 months and the correlation between predictors and outcome variables. Data were analyzed using International Business Machines–Statistical Programming for Social Sciences version 21. P value of 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Three hundred and fifty-four men correctly filled the questionnaires. Finance (12.4%), belief symptoms were due to aging (18.4%), not knowing where to seek help (18.6%), and not knowing the diseases are treatable in the hospital (8.8%) were the reasons for delay. On linear regression analysis, only location (urban or rural) (P = 0.001) of the participants significantly predicted the reasons for delay, while on binary regression analysis, only the number of living brothers (P = 0.53) was close to predicting delay. Conclusion: Ignorance, poverty, culture, and beliefs are the factors that determine how long men delay before consulting the urologist.

Keywords

• beliefs
• culture
• delay
• lower urinary tract symptoms
• urologist