Burning issue for men
Chronic prostatitis is the No 1 reason men visit urologists in China, however the causes of the disease are still a mystery. The Chinese Urological Association Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network (CPCRN) has just been formed to help shed some light on the subject.
Chronic prostatitis is still a disease poorly researched in the past in China but its influence on men's quality of life is quite considerable. An estimated 50 percent of all men experience prostatitis-like symptoms at some point during their lifetime, new data reveals. Symptoms include the frequent urge to urinate and the pain or burning during urination.
"I hope the new collaboration network involving 11 elite experts in the field across the country could make clear some puzzles still troubling the clinical doctors," said Zhang Kai, head of CPCRN and an expert from the urological department of First Hospital of Peking University.
He said the medical world still did not reach a consensus on whether drinking alcohol, frequent sex and eating spicy food were causes of prostatitis. These questions would be addressed in the following research of the collaboration network.
China Daily
(China Daily 05/16/2007 page19)
