Poor clinical guideline adherence and inappropriate testing for incident lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Background The American Urological Association makes recommendations for evaluation and testing for lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH) to help primary care providers and specialists identify LUTS/BPH and harmful related conditions including urinary retention and prostate or bladder cancer. Our understanding of provider adherence to these Guidelines is limited to single-site or nonrepresentative settings. Methods We analyzed two insurance claims databases: the Optum ® de-identified Clinformatics ® Data Mart database for privately insured males aged 40–64 years ( N ≈ 1,650,900 annually) and the Medicare 5% Sample for males aged ≥65 years ( N ≈ 546,000 annually). We calculated the annual prevalence of LUTS/BPH and comorbid bladder cancer and bladder stones from 2004 to 2013. We additionally examined LUTS/BPH incidence and adherence to testing guidelines in a cohort of men newly diagnosed with LUTS/BPH in 2009. Results While LUTS/BPH prevalence and incidence increased with increasing age, evaluation testing became less common. Urinalysis was the most common testing type but was performed in