Background: Currently there are increased cases of men presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) especially in low resource countries. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of patient related factors on health seeking behaviors for LUTS among men attending surgical outpatient clinic at Meru hospital, Kenya.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Population involved 120 men suffering from LUTS, 2 physicians and 2 nurses. Questionnaires and interview guides were used for data collection. Study period was from August 2018 to March 2020.Results: Patients (67.0%) were aged between 61-70 years. Primary education level (68.8%). Farmers (72.0%) with income level of below Kenyan Shilling (Ksh.) 20,000. Logistic regression was used whereby p values (p≤0.05). The inferential statistics pointed out that patient related factors test items had a statistical significant influence since the p values were found to be less than 0.05 at 95% confidence interval.Conclusions: There was a significant negative influence of patient related factors such as lack of knowledge, low income levels and distance to health care facilities on health seeking practices. Patients sought medical attention when quality of their lives had been threatened. The study recommends adopting measures of rising awareness on need for seeking early medical attention and initiate outreach health services in underserved areas or through telehealth.

Health seeking practices is critical towards early screening, detection and control of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) whereby human prostate gland is the major cause of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCA), which mostly accounts for LUTS. Social cultural factors such as cultural beliefs, educational level, income level and religion among many others have a direct influence on health seeking practices both positively and negatively in as far as LUTS are concerned. The researcher explored social cultural factors influencing health seeking practices among men with LUTS attending surgical outpatient clinic at Meru level five hospital (Kenya). De-scriptive cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from 120 men with LUTS, and 4 health workers. Census method was used to select the study participants with questionnaires, interview guide and focused group discussion used as instruments of data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22, whereas the qualitative data was analyzed using qualitative techniques. Descriptive statistics were computed to generate percentages and frequencies, which were then presented in tables and charts. Logistic regression was used whereby P-values were employed to determine the statistical significance of results with cut off set at (p ≤0.05). Majority (67.0%) of the patients with LUTS were aged between 61-70 years. Also, majority (68.8%) of the respondents had primary level of education, with majority (72.0%) of them being farmers with an income level of below Ksh. 20,000. The study results showed that social cultural factors had statistical significant influence on health seeking practices among men with LUTS.

Background: Currently there are increased cases of men presenting with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) especially in low resource countries. These symptoms may or may not be related to prostate cancer and health seeking behaviours are not clear.   Purpose: To establish the influence of patient related factors on health seeking behaviours for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) among men attending surgical outpatient clinic at Meru hospital, Kenya.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. The study population involved 120 men suffering from LUTS, 2 physicians and 2 nurses. Questionnaires and interview guides were used for data collection. Study period was from August 2018 to March 2020.Results: Majority (67.0%) of the patients with LUTS were aged between 61-70 years. Also, the majority (68.8%) of the respondents had primary level of education. The findings also pointed out majority (72.0%) of the patients were farmers with income level of below Ksh. 20,000. Logistic regression was used whereby P-values determine the statistical significance of results with cut off set at (p ?0.05). The inferential statistics pointed out that patient related factors test items had a statistical significant influence since the p-values were found to be less than 0.05 at 95% confidence interval. Conclusion: There was a significant negative influence of patient related factors such as lack of knowledge, low income levels and distance to health care facilities on health seeking practices. Therefore patients seek medical attention when quality of their lives has been threatened. The study recommends adopting measures of rising awareness on need for seeking early medical attention and initiate outreach health services in underserved areas or through telehealth