Sleep apnea, not prostate may wake men

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, March 16 (UPI) -- A significant number of patients with benign prostate enlargement may get up at night to urinate because of a sleep disorder, Israeli researchers say.

Dr. Howard Tandeter of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev says the study compared men ages 55-75, who were randomly chosen from primary care clinics, diagnosed with benign prostate enlargement and reported nocturia -- the need to get up in the night to urinate interrupting sleep -- at least once nightly.

The comparison control group had no benign prostate enlargement and one or no nocturia episodes per night.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, found 57.8 percent of patients with enlarged prostates may in fact have the sleep disorder and that the awakenings that patients ascribed to their need to urinate at night may be actually caused by their sleep disorders.

Waking during the night to urinate is a common benign prostate enlargement symptom. Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by snoring, witnessed apneas, awakenings and day sleepiness.

"If nocturia severity in benign prostate enlargement patients is actually a pre-existing sleep disorder, this can now be treated and help improve patients' quality of life," Tandeter said in a statement.

He recommends that physicians with patients with benign prostate enlargement who report frequent awakenings from sleep to urinate should suspect obstructive sleep apnea as a possible cause and treat accordingly.