Longitudinal prostate growth rates during 5 years in randomly selected community men 40 to 79 years old

Purpose: We estimate the rate of prostate growth in randomly selected healt hy community dwelling men. Materials and Methods: Prostate volume in an age stratified random sample o f 631 white male residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota 40 to 79 years old without prior prostate surgery or prostate cancer was measured up to 4 time s by transrectal ultrasound during a followup period of almost 7 years. Results: Estimated prostate growth rates increased with increasing age. How ever, the estimated average annual change was 1.6% across all, age groups. Estimated prostate growth rates were high depending on baseline prostate vo lume with higher growth rates for men with larger prostates. Conclusions: While there is wide variability in prostate growth rates on an individual level, prostate volume appears to increase steadily at about 1. 6% per year in randomly selected community men.