Survey of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Patients' Preference toward the Distant Management System

Park, Moon Seon; Cho, In Chang; Kim, Tae Hwan; Kim, Wun Jae; Lee, Hyung Lae

Abstract

PURPOSE
Benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH) is known to be the most common cause of urination disturbance among the men over the age of 50. It is known that the prostate generally increases in size rises along with age. The growing number of the elderly of society requires more consistent care for the chronic diseases like BPH. The recent expansion of telecommunications infrastructure and mobile communications has made it possible for medical services to use mobile communication networks. Hence, we have researched the clinical patients' preference toward the distant management system for BPH patients using mobile communications.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research proceeded with a questionnaire conducted by 40 BPH patients over the age of 50, who are undergoing out-patient clinic in the Urology Department at Chungbuk University Hospital and East West Neo Medical Center. The same interviewer gave an explanation to the patients through the questionnaire and the person-to-person talk so that the patients could understand for the personal BPH control program(PBCP). The research on patients' preference toward the PBCP as conducted under a few categories as follows: The contents of the questionnaire according to the patient's educational status: for under middle school graduates, under high school graduates, and for a college graduates. Patients were grouped into high, middle and low according to their financial status. International prostate symptom score(IPSS) were divided into mild, moderate and severe by Barry's classification. Patients' ages were grouped into 50s, 60s, and over 60s. Correlation of each categories was made by Pearson' SPSS version 12.0 and patient's preference toward the PBCP were compared with the variables.
RESULTS
The higher the financial, educational status of the patient was, the more positive the reaction of the clinical patient was toward the PBCP(p=0.01, 0.038). However, it was irrelevant to the patient's IPSS and age(p=0.626, 0.087).
CONCLUSION
It can be a bit hasty to draw conclusions from the evaluation on the PBCP for patients with a few simple elements, and we still need more comprehensive information. However, once it is successfully practiced, we expect to provide elderly or immobile patients with sufficient medical services in homes, which would offer them a great deal of convenience.