The epidemiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia: a study in Greece

Objective To assess the epidemiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in a case-control study in greater Athens, Greece. Patients and methods The study comprised 184 patients surgically treated Fo r BPH within one year of its diagnosis (cases) and 246 patients with no sym ptoms of BPH who were treated in the same hospitals for minor diseases or c onditions (controls). All cases and controls were permanent residents of th e greater Athens area, Greece. The data were assessed using unconditional l ogistic regression. Results After controlling for age and education, cases and controls had sim ilar distributions for height, body mass index, sibship size and birth orde r in the parental family, marital status, number of offspring and a series of previous medical diagnoses or surgical operations, The sole exception wa s surgery for haemorrhoids, that appeared to be related to the incidence of BPH, possibly by chance. There was no evidence that vertex baldness, tobac co smoking, alcohol consumption or coffee drinking increased the risk for B PH. Men who had spent most of their lives in a rural rather than an urban e nvironment appeared to be at reduced risk for BPH. Conclusion The lifestyle factors assessed here have no major effect on the aetiology of BPH.