Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome severity tied to severity of LUTS, depression

Key Points

Researchers from Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany have shed new light on these questionable relationships. At the European Association of Urology annual congress in Barcelona, Spain, they presented results from a comprehensive psychological evaluation using the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D), and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) in 139 men suffering from CP/CPPS.

"We know about the clinical relationship between CP/CPPS and LUTS, depression, and sexual dysfunction," said first author Wolfgang Weidner, MD, professor of urology at Justus-Liebig University. "But the nature of this correlation is debatable, and we therefore wanted to compare the answers from CP/CPPS patients with different psychological tests."

Researchers analyzed total score results and the differences for both CP/CPPS groups. Correlations among the different test instruments were calculated.

The results showed that the inflammatory and non-inflammatory CP/CPPS groups did not differ from each other in total NIH-CPSI score and in the amount of pain experienced. More than 90% of all study patients suffered from LUTS as measured with IPSS.

A positive correlation was found between LUTS and the total NIH-CPSI score, pain, and depression. Rates of erectile dysfunction were high in all patients as indicated by results on the IIEF test. Twenty-six men had intermediate ED (IIEF 11-16) and 14 had severe ED (IIEF 16-10). No correlation was found, though, between the IIEF and the pain score of the NIH-CPSI.

"A high percentage of patients suffering from CP/CPPS also suffer from LUTS and depression," Dr. Weidner said. "We also found a positive correlation between the severity of CP/CPPS, LUTS, and depressive symptoms. We could not, however, detect any differences between men with inflammatory and non-inflammatory CP/CPPS.

"We know from clinical practice that many patients with CP/CPPS also suffer from ED," he added, "but we did not find any correlation between symptoms of CP/CPPS and ED."