Role of PWV on Male LUTS Progression

Male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is exceedingly common in the general population. Stereotypically, male LUTS have long been attributed to the prostate. However, recent attention has been directed to the bladder dysfunction as a cause of LUTS. LUTS also shares has a close relationship with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes and metabolic syndrome. These problems could lead to various end-organ damages, via diverse mechanisms, with central arterial stiffness (CAS) is one of them. Amongst the abundant methods for the measurement of CAS, brachial-ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) has been shown to be a simple and an accurate approach and is widely used clinically. From investigators' preliminary work, investigators had shown that baPWV is correlated with the baseline voiding function and voided volume. Investigators postulate that CVD and related diseases would increase CAS, which in turn could cause insult to the urinary bladder. Inevitably, it would lead to bladder dysfunction and LUTS. In the wake of this postulation, a study to investigate the relationship of CAS and the progression of male LUTS is proposed.