Hyperthyroidism is not a significant risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia A nationwide population-based study

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disorder in the aging male population. Despite evidence that thyroid status impacts the prostate, the objective of this study was to examine whether patients with hyperthyroidism were at a greater risk for BPH. This study is a retrospective nationwide population-based cohort study of the Chinese population. Data for this study were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHI RD). Overall, 1032 male patients aged/10 years or older with hyperthyroidism diagnosed between 2000 and 2006 were included in the hyperthyroidism group, and 4128 matched controls without hyperthyroidism were included in the non-hyperthyroidism group. Both groups were monitored until the end of 2011. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to compute and compare the risk of BPH between study participants with and those without hyperthyroidism. Patients with hyperthyroidism exhibited a greater incidence of BPH (18.519% vs 15.53%) than did the controls. Furthermore, the hazard ratio (HR) of the hyperthyroidism group was 1.24 times that of the control group [95% confidence interval (95% CI 1.05-1.46)] signifying that there is a significant 24% increase in the risk of BPH with the presence of hyperthyroidism. This increased risk of BPH with hyperthyroidism, however, failed to remain significant (adjusted HR =1.11, 95% CI =0.94-1.3) after adjusting for covariates of age (adjusted HR = 2.72, 95% CI = 2.32-3.2), diabetes (adjusted HR =1.4, 95% CI =1.17-1.68), hypertension (adjusted HR =1.74, 95 % CI =1.49-2.03), hyperlipidemia (adjusted HR =1.25, 95% CI =1.03-1.53), neurogenic bladder, cystitis (adjusted HR =1.23, 95% CI =0.58-2.59), urethral stricture (adjusted HR =2.01, 95% CI =0.28-14.47), urethritis (adjusted HR =1.52, 95% CI = 0.723.21), and urinary tract infection (adjusted HR = 1.77, 95% CI =1.31-2.39). After adjustment for comorbidities and covariates, hyperthyroidism was not found to be a significant risk factor of BPH in our male study subjects. Further research is warranted to validate our results and elucidate the association of the pathophysiology of these 2 diseases.