Abstract: Objective To explore the association between frailty and the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH/LUTS) in elderly men aged≥60 years old in China. Methods The demographic information, health-related data, and examination data of elderly men aged ≥60 years old in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2011 were collected. Baseline characteristics of the BPH/LUTS group and non-BPH/LUTS group were compared. The correlation between frailty and the risk of BPH/LUTS was evaluated using univariable and multivariate logistic regression models. Subgroup analysis based on three variables including metabolic syndrome, obesity, and sarcopenia, was conducted to explore the potential variations of the association between frailty and BPH/LUTS in each subgroup. Results A total of 1453 subjects were included in this study. The prevalence of BPH/LUTS was 14.66%. After adjusting for all covariates, pre-frailty (OR=1.947, 95%CI: 1.279-2.964, P=0.002) and frailty (OR=1.820, 95%CI: 1.100-3.012, P=0.020) were associated with a higher risk of BPH/LUTS. Subgroup analysis indicated that in the population without metabolic syndrome, pre-frailty and frailty were significantly associated with a higher risk of BPH/LUTS. Conclusions In elderly men aged ≥60 years old in China, frailty is significantly associated with a higher risk of BPH/LUTS, and this association is more obvious in the population without metabolic syndrome.   

Key words: aged, frailty, benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms, China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study