International Prostate Symptom Score
The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) is an eight-question questionnaire on the disease benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, benign prostate enlargement) . The questionnaire contains seven questions about symptoms and one question about Quality of Life (QoL ).
This questionnaire was created in 1992 by the American Urological Association . At that time it did not include the 8th question about QoL. Therefore the original name was either "AUA symptom score" or "AUA-7" (American Urological Association symptom score 7).
Zero to five points are awarded for each of the seven symptoms: residual urine sensation, repeated urge to urinate two hours after the last visit to the toilet, stuttering urine, inability to delay urination, weak stream, pressure while urinating and frequency of nocturnal urination. According to this point system, patients are divided into those with mild (IPSS <8), moderate (IPSS = 8-19) and severe (IPSS = 20-35) symptoms. Therapy is usually started from a value greater than 7 and existing psychological stress.
The IPSS questionnaire can be completed quickly and easily by patients themselves. It can therefore be used both in urological clinics and by general practitioners to assess the need for therapy. The questionnaire can be filled out again at different times in order to document a comparison of the symptoms and their severity over months or years and thus show the course of the disease.
Since various other diseases can also cause symptoms such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, the IPSS test is expressly not suitable for screening or for initial diagnosis.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Three criteria determine the risk of urinary retention . In: Doctors newspaper . March 26, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
- ↑ a b S2e guideline for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of benign prostate syndrome (PDF) of the AWMF ; accessed on August 18, 2018
