A symptom index for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was recently developed and validated by the Multidisciplinary Measurements Committee of the American Urologic Association, Inc. (AUA). The AUA symptom index ascertains the severity of seven nonspecific urinary symptoms associated with clinical BPH. The objective of the present study was to determine the influence of aging and gender on the AUA symptom index. Approximately 750 individuals attended a health fair at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital which included exhibits related to surgical and medical disease processes affecting the aging population. A nurse specialist randomly invited male and female attendees to complete the self-administered AUA symptom index and two additional inquiries related to age and gender. A total of 101 males and 96 females between fifty-five and seventy-nine years of age completed the AUA symptom index. The mean age of the males and females completing the AUA symptom index was 69.3 +/- 0.5 years and 68.2 +/- 0.6 years, respectively (p = 0.14). The mean AUA symptom scores in the male and female groups were 6.7 +/- 0.5 and 7.5 +/- 0.6, respectively. The difference between the mean AUA symptom scores in the male and female groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.35). The differences between AUA symptom scores were also not significantly different between males and females in five consecutive advancing-age groups between fifty-five and seventy-nine years of age. The percentage of males with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms was 64 percent, 32 percent, and 4 percent, respectively. The percentage of females with mild, moderate, and severe symptoms was 61 percent, 35 percent, and 4 percent, respectively. The present study suggests that prostatism-like symptoms are a manifestation of aging, and that the AUA symptom index is not BPH-specific.