How is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia detected and diagnosed? (Part 1)
2021-01-11
To diagnose BPH, doctors generally use the International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire (IPSS) to evaluate the severity of symptoms. Designed by the American urological Association (AUA), the IPSS is an important tool to determine prostate problems at the early stage, to follow the progression of BPH and to track the treatment effects.
The IPSS consists of 7 questions, scored on a scale from 0-5:
| Over the past month, how often have you... | None at all | Less than 20% of time | Less than half the time | About half the time | More than half the time | Almost always |
| had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely after urinating? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| had to urinate again less than 2 hours after urinating? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| stopped and started again several times when you urinated? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| found it difficult to postpone urination? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| had a weak urinary stream? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| had to push or strain to urinate? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Over the past month, ... | None | 1 time | 2 times | 3 times | 4 times | 5 times or more |
| how many times did you most typically get up to urinate from the time you went to bed at night until you got up in the morning? | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
The symptoms are graded as:
mild: score 1 to 7
moderate: score 8 to 19
severe: score 20 to 35
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