Westminster: A survey to see how many times Members of Parliament go to the loo at night has been carried out by Dr Howard Stoate.

A total of 179 MPs responded to his questionnaire trying to raise awareness about benign prostate disease, a form of cancer which affects the bladder.

Of the 159 male and 20 female MPs, Dr Stoate found half of the men got up to urinate at least once a night, compared with 35 per cent of women MPs.

Of those aged between 50 and 59, 61 per cent of male MPs got up at least once and 13 per cent were up twice or more.

In the over 60s group, 74 per cent of male MPs got up at least once while 26 per cent had to go twice.

Now Dr Stoate, a practicing GP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Men's Health is warning some colleagues they could be suffering from prostate disease and should see their doctors.

Commenting on the problem he said: "Benign prostate disease is a problem because too many men know too little about the disease, which means they end up leading a miserable life."

Now a number of MPs have signed up to support the publication of Dr Stoate's report called Out of the Water Closet - It's Time to Tackle Benign Prostate Disease.

November 6, 2001 16:30