Associations between metabolic syndrome and clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia in a northern urban Han Chinese population: A prospective cohort study

Biologic rationales exist for the associations between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, epidemiologic studies have yield inconsistent results. The aim of the present study was to prospectively evaluate the associations of MetS with the risk of BPH. The presence of MetS, the number of MetS components, and the individual MetS components were evaluated. After adjusting for potential confounders, MetS was associated with increased risk of BPH (HR: 1.29; 95% CI, 1.08–1.50; p < 0.001). Compared with subjects without any MetS components, the HRs were 0.88 (95% CI, 0.67–1.09; p = 0.86), 1.18 (95% CI, 0.89–1.47; p = 0.29) and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.08–1.66; p = 0.014) for subjects with 1, 2, or ≥3 MetS components, and there was a biologic gradient between the number of MetS components and the risk of BPH (p-trend < 0.001). Central obesity and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were the two main divers of the associations between these two conditions, with HRs of 1.93 (95% CI, 1.14–2.72; p = 0.001) for central obesity, and 1.56 (95% CI, 1.08–2.04; p = 0.012) for low HDL-C. Our findings support the notion that MetS may be an important target for BPH prevention and intervention.