Characteristic Symptoms of Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome

Lee, Jun Ho; Jeon, Joon Seong; Cho, In Rae

Abstract

PURPOSE: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) presents various symptoms, such as various pains, voiding and sex-related symptoms. To elucidate the characteristic symptoms of CPPS we compared BPH patients with healthy men.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We obtained questionnaires from 530 men, consisting of three groups: 243 CPPS patients aged 40 or below with small sized prostate (<25ml); 115 BPH patients aged 45 or older with non-small sized prostate (> OR =25ml); and 172 healthy men aged below and equal 40 years without pyuria. We compared various pains and voiding symptoms among the three groups, and the sex-related symptoms between 145 CPPS patients and 64 healthy men who had been married at least 6 months, and had regular sexual intercourse with their wife.
RESULTS
In comparison with healthy men, the CPPS patients had a higher prevalence of the various pains and most of the voiding symptoms. The CPPS patients had a higher prevalence of pain over the penis, urethra, perineum and prostate gland compared to the BPH patients (p<0.05). There was no statistical significance in voiding symptoms between the CPPS and BPH patients. In respect to the sex-related symptoms, the CPPS patients had a higher prevalence of decreased maintenance time, rigidity at erection, libido, orgasmic feeling and a more painful ejaculation than the healthy men (p<0.01). The frequencies of sexual intercourse and orgasmic sensation following ejaculation were slightly decreased, bur with no statistical significance (p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
The CPPS patients showed a higher prevalence of various pains and voiding symptoms than the healthy men. Pains over the penis, urethra, perineum and prostate gland are characteristic in CPPS patients. Both the CPPS and BPH patients felt trouble due to the voiding symptoms. The CPPS patients had a higher prevalence of most of sex-related symptoms, but had similar frequencies of sexual intercourse and orgasmic sensation following ejaculation compared to the healthy men.