Healthy lifestyle helps prevent, delay benign prostatic hyperplasia

Keeping healthy lifestyle habits, such as avoiding smoking, engaging in exercise, and limiting alcohol intake, helps prevent or delay the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a new Japan study has found.

Drawing from nationwide datasets, researchers conducted a cross-sectional ecological study across 47 Japanese prefectures. They assessed the links between socioeconomic, climate, health condition, lifestyle, and BPH-related factors.

Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that smoking was positively correlated with the use of uroselective alpha-1 receptor blockers (r, 0.6116) and dutasteride (r, 0.6598). In contrast, exercise was negatively associated with the use of uroselective alpha-1 receptor blockers (r, –0.5696), and small amounts of alcohol consumption was likewise inversely correlated with dutasteride (r, –0.5292).

Daily drinking and the use of antihypertensive medications were both positively linked with the use of BPH-related medications.

Multiple linear regression analyses confirmed these initial results and showed that exercise, smoking, and drinking habits were indeed significantly correlated with the use of the alpha-1 receptor blockers (R², 0.5435; p<0.001), while smoking, drinking, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and antihypertensive medication use were associated with dutasteride (R², 0.5673; p<0.001).

“Healthy lifestyle habits, especially avoidance of smoking, implementation of exercise in daily life, and a small amount of alcohol consumption, are important to prevent or delay BPH development. Among metabolic syndrome-associated factors, high blood pressure and high serum ALT are suggested as risk factors of BPH development,” the researchers said.