Phytomedicines in Pharmacotherapy of LUTS/BPH - What Do Patients Think?
Abstract
Purpose: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) consist of voiding and storage symptoms. While the therapeutic efficacy of current LUTS medications is limited, and with more than 20% of patients suffering from mixed symptoms, current guidelines offer nothing more than combining monotherapies. An individualized approach is urgently warranted, and phytomedicines have become an integral part of patient-empowerment in therapeutic shared-decision making processes. Therefore, we aimed to investigate patients' preference of phytomedicines and treatment adherence at the dawn of an era leaving α1-blocker monotherapies behind.
Patients and methods: A questionnaire was prepared, and patients at our tertiary referral center were given the opportunity to voluntarily participate in our survey. We collected questionnaires from 300 patients during their visits from January 2022 to December 2022.
Results: With 73% (218/300), most of our study cohort had either taken one or more or were currently on prescription medication for LUTS/BPH. Patients were prescribed α1-blockers (72%), followed by 5α-reductase inhibitors (21%), and phosphodiesterase-5-inhibitor (5%), while antimuscarinics and β3-agonists were rarely prescribed. However, 41% (89/218) of our patients, who were taking medication for LUTS, had taken or were currently taking phytomedicines, making this the second most common drug class in our patient cohort. Patients scored the efficacy of phytomedicines at a mean in the lower third, but…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 300 participants or records.
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