Serum sex hormones and measures of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
BACKGROUND
Despite biologic plausibility, the associations between sex hormones and measures of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) have not been consistently reported.


METHODS
Subjects were randomly selected from the Olmsted County, MN population (n, 320; median age, 60.9 years) and followed biennially since 1990. In 2002, surrogate measures of BPH were assessed from an approximation of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUASI), Peak urinary flow rates (Q(max)), and a transrectal ultrasound assessment of prostate volume. Serum levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), testosterone, bioavailable testosterone, and estradiol were also measured.


RESULTS
Bioavailable testosterone levels declined with increasing cross-sectional age from 53.8, 50.2, to 41.2 ng/dl (P = 0.001) in men aged <60, 60-69, and >69 years, respectively, and the estradiol/bioavailable testosterone ratio increased from 0.042, 0.044, to 0.050 (P = 0.04). Among men with bioavailable testosterone above the median, estradiol levels had a dose response relationship with prostate size. Among men with bioavailable testosterone level </= the median, however, there was no association between estradiol level and prostate volume


CONCLUSIONS
While cross-sectional, these findings suggest a more complex relationship between sex steroids and prostate volume in older men than simple independent effects.
Department of Health Sciences Research, Division of Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. roberts.rosebud@mayo.edu
Rosebud O
RO
Roberts
Debra J
DJ
Jacobson
Thomas
T
Rhodes
George G
GG
Klee
Michael M
MM
Leiber
Steven J
SJ
Jacobsen
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011467:Prostate / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D014463:Ultrasonography
D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen