ATLANTA – Interstitial cystitis and chronic pelvic pain may be more common in males than assumed.
A national telephone survey shows that about 2 million U.S. men may suffer from either of the disorders, Dr. Anne Suskind said during a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association.
"We found that anywhere from 1% to 2.5% of men report symptoms suggestive of interstitial cystitis and a similar number report symptoms suggestive of chronic prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain," said Dr. Suskind, a fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "The degree of overlap is less than 20%"
Dr. Suskind and her colleagues conducted a telephone survey similar to the RAND IC Epidemiology Study (RICE) survey of women. That study – the largest interstitial cystitis epidemiology study ever undertaken – found that up to 6.5% of U.S. women may have the disorder.
The male-targeted survey used versions of the RICE validated definitions to assess problems in men. Chronic prostatitis was considered a value of greater than 5 on the National Institute of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, plus ejaculatory or perineal pain.
Researchers contacted 6,072 households, asking if the male resident would be willing to answer a survey about President Obama’s performance. If the answer was yes, the survey ensued, with questions about any urinary tract pain attached at the end of the political questions.
Initially, 296 men screened positive for the bladder symptoms; 149 of these men met inclusionary diagnostic criteria for interstitial cystitis or prostatitis. Of these, 52 were excluded from the final analysis.
Based on the remaining sample of 97 subjects, 23% met the high specificity definition of interstitial cystitis/ bladder pain syndrome, 16% met the case definition of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and 8% met both definitions.
By extrapolating the numbers to the entire U.S. adult male population, Dr. Suskind concluded that up to 2 million men would meet the diagnostic definition for either of the disorders. A further analysis showed that the overlap between the two conditions was small – about 17% – indicating that they could be easily diagnostically differentiated.
"These conditions appear to be more widespread in men than many of us have believed," she concluded.
Dr. Suskind reported having no financial disclosures.