Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic obstruction in real life practice in France.

The objective of this work is to describe the profile of prevalent and incident populations suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) and to analyse the management of care by 620 general practitioners (GPs) in France in 1997 and 1998. Patient records were extracted from the THALES database. Special attention was given to the use of medical therapy and switch rates (ie change to another or combination with another drug). In real life practice (RLP) French GPs predominantly utilise alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists for the treatment of LUTS. This is in agreement with available evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with different medical therapies (alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists, finasteride, plant extracts). On the contrary, the relatively high usage of phytotherapy might be explained by traditional and personal preferences. Using purely descriptive statistics, newer alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists, alfuzosin and tamsulosin, seem to be the most frequently prescribed medical therapy for new patients and are, moreover, associated with a low switch rate.Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (2001) 4, 124-131