Allopurinol for chronic prostatitis

Evidence Summaries

Level of Evidence = D
Allopurinol might possibly relieve symptoms in patients with chronic prostatitis, but the evidence is insufficient.

The level of evidence is downgraded because of study limitations (several issues) and imprecise results (very few patients).

A Cochrane review 1 included 1 study with a total of 54 men. Only one trial lasting 240 days (with 330 days of follow up) met study inclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant change favoring allopurinol in patient-reported discomfort between the study and control groups at follow up. Between days 45 to 225, the mean score was -0.95 (SD 0.19) for the allopurinol group (seven men), compared with -0.47 (SD 0.21) for the placebo group (seven men). The weighted mean difference (WMD) was -0.48 (95% CI -0.690 to -0.270). The mean score between days 45-135 was -1.08 (SD 1.29) for the 25 men in the allopurinol group, compared with -0.21 (SD 0.97) for the 14 men in the control group. The WMD was -0.87 (95% CI -1.587 to -0.153). The allopurinol group had significantly less investigator graded prostate pain and had lower levels of serum urate, urine urate, and expressed prostatic secretion urate and xanthine.

Date of latest search: 2002-08-01

References

1. McNaughton CO, Wilt T. Allopurinol for chronic prostatitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2002;(4):CD001041.  [PMID:12519549]
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