Improving Therapeutic Outcomes in BPH Through Diagnosis, Treatment and Patient Compliance

The percentage of men with symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) increases markedly with age. In the United States, although evidence that racial/ethnic minorities are more likely to develop BPH remains controversial, it is clear that there are generalized differences in access to healthcare for a large portion of the minority population. These differences in healthcare access could in turn influence the way minorities are treated for symptoms of BPH. Given both the sensitive nature of the disease and the variety of treatment options, communication between healthcare professionals and the patient needs to be improved for optimal care. Communication between the healthcare provider and a minority patient can be even more challenging, considering the potential differences in language, education, and culture. Improving patient education is crucial to healthcare communication and can be accomplished through a variety of methods, including visual decision aides and fine-tuning the literacy level of educational material, to most appropriately target the desired patient population. Further steps can be taken with minorities to overcome language barriers such as the use of interpreters, or promotoras in the case of the Latino population. Finally, improving the cultural competence of the healthcare provider could have profound impacts on the treatment of not only BPH but all diseases in minority populations.