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Prostate & urinary health

Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS)

A private calculator using the validated, public-domain International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS/AUA-SI) — seven questions about urinary symptoms often linked to an enlarged prostate (BPH). You'll see your total from 0 to 35, whether it lands mild, moderate, or severe, and what it points toward. It's a symptom score, not a diagnosis, and nothing you enter leaves your device.

This is a symptom score, not a diagnosis — and it's about urination, not erections or sex drive. It can't detect prostate cancer; a high score points you toward a clinician, not a verdict.

International Prostate Symptom Score calculator

Answers stay on your device: nothing is sent, saved, or shared. Answer for how things have been over the past month.

1. Over the past month, how often have you had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely after you finished urinating?
2. Over the past month, how often have you had to urinate again less than two hours after you finished urinating?
3. Over the past month, how often have you found you stopped and started again several times when you urinated?
4. Over the past month, how often have you found it difficult to postpone urination?
5. Over the past month, how often have you had a weak urinary stream?
6. Over the past month, how often have you had to push or strain to begin urination?
7. Over the past month, how many times did you most typically get up to urinate from the time you went to bed at night until the time you got up in the morning?
8. If you were to spend the rest of your life with your urinary condition just the way it is now, how would you feel about that?

This quality-of-life question is scored separately — it isn't added to your 0–35 total.

Some urinary symptoms need urgent care, not a questionnaire. Seek same-day or emergency care if you have blood in your urine, are suddenly unable to pass urine at all, or have a fever with pain when you urinate.

Start here

What this score measures — and what it can't tell you

The IPSS adds up seven questions about how you pass urine — emptying, frequency, a stop-start stream, urgency, a weak flow, straining, and getting up at night. The total lands in one of three bands: mild (0–7), moderate (8–19), or severe (20–35). These symptoms are most often caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) — a common, non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate — though a urinary infection, an overactive bladder, and other conditions can cause them too.

What the score can't do is name the cause. It doesn't diagnose BPH, and it says nothing about prostate cancer, which usually causes no urinary symptoms early on. It also can't measure the urgent red flags — blood in the urine, being unable to urinate, or fever with painful urination — which need care right away regardless of your number.

And it's worth being clear: this is a urinary score, not a check of erections or sex drive. Those are separate matters, measured with different tools. A high score here is simply a reason to have your urinary symptoms evaluated — the raw number, and just as much the quality-of-life question, help you and a clinician decide what to do next.

What comes next

How an enlarged prostate is actually evaluated

If your symptoms are bothering you, here's what a clinician typically does — none of which a questionnaire can replace.

Exam and history

A clinician reviews your symptoms and this kind of score, and usually examines the prostate (a digital rectal exam) to gauge its size and feel.

A urine check

A simple urine test rules out an infection or blood in the urine — common mimics of prostate symptoms that need different treatment.

PSA and further tests

You may discuss a PSA blood test and, if needed, measures like how much urine is left after you go, to build a fuller picture of what's going on.

Treatment matched to bother

Options run from watchful waiting and lifestyle steps to medications that relax or shrink the prostate, up to procedures for severe cases — chosen with you.

Not sure whether your symptoms are a prostate issue or something else? A burning, urgent, or frequent need to go can also be a urinary infection or an STI — our UTI-vs-STD symptom check can help you tell them apart, and it's easy to get tested to rule an infection out.

When to get help

When it's worth seeing a clinician

Urgent — same-day care

Blood in the urine, being suddenly unable to pass urine at all, or a fever with pain when you urinate are not questionnaire matters — seek urgent or emergency care now.

Moderate or severe symptoms

A score of 8 or above, or symptoms that clearly bother you day to day, is the point where an evaluation and a conversation about treatment make sense.

A clear change from your normal

Symptoms that have crept in or worsened over months — a weaker stream, going more often, waking at night — are worth checking, especially in midlife and beyond.

It's affecting your life

You don't need to hit a threshold to ask. If your quality-of-life answer is 'mixed' or worse, that alone is a good reason to see a primary-care doctor or a urologist.

A primary-care doctor is a fine place to start; they can evaluate your symptoms and refer you to a urologist if needed. Be wary of online sellers promising to "cure" prostate symptoms from a questionnaire alone — the cause matters, and only an evaluation can find it.

Next steps

Related checks and care

This score is about urination. If a different concern is on your mind, these are the right tools — each measures something separate.

UTI or STD?

Burning, urgency, or going often can be an infection rather than the prostate — tell the two apart.

Erection Hardness Score

A separate, sexual concern: a 10-second grade of erection firmness — not what the IPSS measures.

Low testosterone (ADAM)

Low drive, fatigue, and weaker erections point to hormones, not urinary flow — a distinct symptom screen.

Erectile function (IIEF-5)

The fuller erectile-function screen, for when erections rather than urination are the worry.

Sources

Where this comes from

The seven questions, the 0–5 scoring, the 0–7 / 8–19 / 20–35 bands, and the quality-of-life question reproduce the published, validated International Prostate Symptom Score (built on the American Urological Association Symptom Index, Barry et al., 1992), a public-domain instrument. The guidance on how an enlarged prostate is evaluated and treated follows the American Urological Association guideline, MedlinePlus, and the NIDDK. We don't reinterpret the instrument; we present it and its published scoring, and we're explicit that it measures symptoms, not their cause.

Medically Reviewed & Fact-Checked · Updated

Reviewed by EasySTD Editorial Team

Compiled and checked by EasySTD's editorial team against CDC and public-health sources. This is educational information, not a substitute for advice from a licensed clinician. Our editorial guidelines →

3 Sources

Data & references

EasySTD is an information and comparison directory, not a healthcare provider. This tool is general information based on a published, validated instrument: it is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a test result, and it does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Only a clinician can evaluate what's causing your symptoms. If a concern bothers you, talk with a licensed clinician.

Good to Know

Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS): frequently asked questions

What the IPSS measures, what the mild/moderate/severe bands mean, why a high score isn't a cancer verdict, how BPH is evaluated, and how private this is.

What is the IPSS (International Prostate Symptom Score)?

The IPSS is a brief, validated, public-domain questionnaire that measures how bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms are — the kind often caused by an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH). It grew out of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (the AUA-SI, Barry and colleagues, 1992) and is the same seven questions with one extra quality-of-life question added. Each of the seven symptom questions is scored from 0 to 5, so the total runs from 0 to 35: 0–7 is mild, 8–19 is moderate, and 20–35 is severe. Clinicians use it worldwide to gauge symptoms and to track whether treatment is helping. It's a measure of symptoms, not a diagnosis.

What do the mild, moderate, and severe bands mean?

They describe how much your urinary symptoms are affecting you, not what's causing them. Mild (0–7) usually means symptoms you can live with, often managed by watchful waiting and simple lifestyle steps. Moderate (8–19) is the range where many men and their clinicians start discussing treatment, especially if the symptoms are bothersome. Severe (20–35) means symptoms are significantly affecting daily life and deserve prompt medical evaluation. Importantly, the score is only part of the picture — the separate quality-of-life question matters just as much, because how much the symptoms bother you often drives the decision to treat more than the raw number does.

Does a high score mean I have prostate cancer?

No. The IPSS measures urinary symptoms and says nothing about cancer. The symptoms it captures are most often caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia — a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate that is extremely common with age — or by other conditions like a urinary tract infection or an overactive bladder. Prostate cancer usually causes no urinary symptoms in its early stages. Only a clinician can sort out the cause, using an exam, a urine test, and a conversation about whether PSA testing is right for you. A high score is a reason to get checked, not evidence of cancer.

How is an enlarged prostate (BPH) actually diagnosed and treated?

With a clinical evaluation, not a questionnaire. A clinician typically reviews your symptoms and this kind of score, examines the prostate (a digital rectal exam), checks a urine sample to rule out infection or blood, and may discuss a PSA blood test, measure how much urine is left after you go, or do further tests. Treatment is matched to how bothersome symptoms are: watchful waiting and lifestyle changes for milder cases; medications that relax the prostate or shrink it for moderate symptoms; and minimally invasive or surgical options for severe or persistent cases. Because the right path depends on the whole picture, this is a decision to make with a clinician.

Is this the same as an erection or sex-drive check?

No — and that's an important distinction. The IPSS is about urination: how you pass urine and how often. It does not measure erections, libido, or sexual satisfaction. Urinary and sexual symptoms can travel together as men age, and some prostate treatments affect both, but they're separate concerns assessed with different tools. If erections are your worry, the Erection Hardness Score or the fuller erectile-function screen fit better; if low sex drive and energy are the issue, a low-testosterone symptom screen is the right one. This page stays strictly on urinary symptoms.

Is what I enter private?

Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your answers are scored on your own device and are never sent to a server, saved, or shared — close the tab and they're gone. It's general educational information based on a published, validated, public-domain instrument; it can't diagnose you or replace an evaluation and a conversation with a clinician.

Have a different question? Browse the full STD & STI FAQ library, every question we answer, in one place.