Impact of Falls and Sleep Quality on Quality of Life among Older Men with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Sufering from lower urinary tract symptoms in male older adults with benign prostatic hyperplasia afects their quality of life profoundly. Lower urinary tract symptoms may precipitate falls and poor quality of sleep. Litle is known about the impact of falls and sleep quality on quality of life. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the impact of falls and sleep quality on quality of life in this population. Participants were 140 older males, diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia, presented with lower urinary tract symptoms, and no history of prostatic surgery. Structured interviews were conducted with questionnaires-Demographic and Health Record Form, International Prostate Symptom Score, Pitsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and European Quality of Life-Five Dimension- in outpatient urological surgery units at a tertiary care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Descriptive statistics and multiple-logistic regression with bootstrapping analysis were used for data analysis. Results revealed that nearly half of the participants reported falls and poor quality of life, while half had poor quality of sleep. Moderate lower urinary tract symptoms severity including nocturia, frequency, and urgency were predominantly identified. The predictive model explained 36.7% and correctly classified 74.3% of the cases. Significantly, those who experienced falls last year, and poor sleep quality increased the risk of developing the poor quality of life by 2.43 to 20.68-fold and 4.90-fold, respectively. Findings suggest that nurses and healthcare personnel working with older males should focus on delivering interventions to prevent falls and poor sleep quality that may improve quality of life. Proactive identification or specific symptom assessment, particularly falls history, sleep quality, and severity of urinary symptoms during the treatment, is of concern in older men with lower urinary tract symptoms.