ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CIGARETTE-SMOKING AND PROSTATISM IN A JAPANESE COMMUNITY

BACKGROUND. The purpose of this study was to examine the association b etween cigarette smoking and prostatism among Japanese men. METHODS. M ale residents of Shimamaki-mura, Japan, aged 40-79 years old (n = 286) , completed a sell-administered questionnaire that included the intern ational prostate symptom score (IPSS). A detailed cigarette smoking hi story was also obtained. All men had a transrectal ultrasonographic es timate of prostatic volume and a peak urinary flow rate measurement. R ESULTS. Current cigarette smoking was inversely associated with an imp aired peak urinary flow rate (<15 mL/sec) (odds ratio [OR] = 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.18, 0.84), and with moderate to severe s ymptoms (IPSS>7) (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.48, 1.49), but was not signifi cantly associated with prostatic volume. Smokers of 1 to 1.4 packs a d ay were less likely and smokers of less than a pack a day or 1.5 or mo re packs a day were more likely to have moderate to severe symptoms an d a greater prostatic volume. CONCLUSION. These findings suggest that cigarette smoking may have a protective effect on prostatism at certai n smoking intensities, but no effect or a deleterious effect at other intensities. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.