A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF ALCOHOL, DIET, AND OTHER LIFE-STYLE FACTORS INRELATION TO OBSTRUCTIVE UROPATHY

The association of alcohol, diet, and other lifestyle factors with obs tructive uropathy was investigated in a cohort of 6581 Japanese-Americ an men, examined and interviewed from 1971 to 1975 in Hawaii. By study ing this migrant population with its heterogeneous exposures, it incre ases the probabilities of identifying potential risk factors of this p rostate disorder. After 17 years of follow-up, 846 incident cases of s urgically treated obstructive uropathy were diagnosed with benign pros tatic hyperplasia. Total alcohol intake was inversely associated with obstructive uropathy (P < 0.0001). The relative risk was 0.64 (95% con fidence interval: 0.52-0.78) for men drinking at least 25 ounces of al cohol per month compared with nondrinkers. Among the 4 sources of alco hol, a significant inverse association was present for beer, wine, and sake, but not for spirits. Buddhist (vs. other) religion, rural (vs. urban) birthplace, and the presence of prostate symptoms were each ass ociated with increased risk of obstructive uropathy, but no associatio n was found with education, number of marriages, or cigarette smoking. Increased beef intake was weakly related to an increased risk (P = 0. 047), while no association was found with the consumption of 32 other food items in the study.