About one-fifth of patients prescribed an alpha blocker for lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia have their prescription changed to another alpha blocker, and lack of efficacy is the main reason for the switch, according to a new study published online ahead of print in Urology.
Tae Nam Kim, MD, of Pusan National University Hospital in Pusan, Korea, and colleagues studied 3,200 patients who took 1 of 4 different alpha blockers (doxazosin, alfuzosin, tamsulosin, and silodosin). Of these patients, 694 (21.7%) had a prescription change to another alpha blocker after taking their first one for a mean 10.8 weeks.
Reasons for the change were lack of efficacy (52.7%), adverse events (33.1%), cost (7.0%), inconvenience of taking the drug (4.1%), and cardiovascular morbidity (3.2%).
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