NICE guideline on LUTS: invisible guidance for invisible men.
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What follows is a short but eclectic list of web news sources. What do they have in common? Pulse, a British online news and views publication for GP’s and primary care staff; OnMedica, a daily news, views, blogs and learning website for staff in UK healthcare settings; news from the MS Trust; and Punch, not the defunct humorist magazine, the other Punch, an online newspaper based in Nigeria.
They are the few places where I've found any account of a NICE guideline published last week, on Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in men. The medical sources reflect the ‘specialist’ nature of the story, the mention by the MS Trust reflects the special interest of a particular patient group and it’s really not clear why the Nigerians picked it up at all.
Good on them, though. They are an obscure (forgive me, no insult intended) audience for a clinical guideline written for doctors' use in the NHS, but they have stolen a march on the UK health media. They have spotted that LUTS are a major health issue for men, deserving broader coverage. There’s a huge audience of men who really need to know what the LUTS guideline means.
There’s no comment, at the time of writing, on the UK prostate charities websites. This is odd, since they’re so keen to encourage men to find out about PSA tests and these LUTS guidelines contain guidance on PSA tests that will interest the charities. The absence of comment'll probably be because no one in the media has asked for a comment. There's nothing else I can see, yet, in the mainstream health media. Nothing on my usual ‘go to’ site for health, the BBC.
NHS direct has no mention of ‘LUTS’, let alone the guideline, but as LUTS is medical rather than lay terminology maybe that is not surprising. Their interactive body map is interesting. See if you can find men’s urinary problems. I can’t. There is a female urinary symptoms link.
What doctors mean by lower urinary tract symptoms are the things most of us recognise as coming under the coy heading of 'waterworks' problems. Bladders, prostates, uthethras and sphincters can all contribute in different ways, to different degrees, to different kinds of LUTS - hence a visit to a GP is vital to first diagnosis and mangement. It’s men, older men, who are most likely to get LUTS and they can become a major burden to each man. 'Putting up with' is not any kind of answer and men need to know that there are a range of things that can be done and, whilst important in treatment, neither medication nor surgery are actually inevitable if you discuss your urinary sympoms with the GP.
Unfortunately, many older men 'expect' LUTS as a natural consequence of ageing, so won't even think of visiting the GP and will sometimes make huge compromises in their quality of life as a result of their dismal expectations. ‘Bothersome’ LUTS can occur in up to 30% of men older than 65 years. In the UK at present this means as many as 1.22 million men have LUTS that causes them problems.
Shame on you to the health media for failure to give the NICE LUTS guidance a popular spin and tell men what could be done for them. Has the LUTS guidance not had any coverage yet because it’s urine, they’re men, they’re older or, as it’s not cancer, it’s not worth bothering with? Or does the media not expect a readership for a men's health issue?
Take your pick. I’d chose the age thing as the most likely prejudice, followed by the others 'in no particular order' as they say on those reality shows nowadays.
