Lifetime occupational and recreational physical activity and risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia

To investigate the relation between occupational and recreational physical activity (PA) in different periods of life and the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), we conducted a hospital-based, case-control study in Italy. The study included 1,369 histologically confirmed BPH and 1,451 controls, admitted to the same hospitals for acute, nonneoplastic diseases. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of BPH, according to lifetime PA, were obtained by unconditional multiple logistic regression models, including terms for age, study center and education. Compared to the lowest level of occupational PA, the multivariate ORs for BPH for the heavy/strenuous level were 0.6 (95% CI, 0.4-0.8) at age 15-19, 0.6 (95% CI, 0.4-0.8) at age 30-39 and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.5-0.9) at age 50-59. Moreover, compared to <2 hr/week of recreational PA, the ORs for BPH for the highest level (>or=5 hr/week) were 0.5 (95% CI, 0.4-0.7) at age 15-19, 0.6 (95% CI, 0.5-0.8) at age 30-39, and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.5-0.8) at age 50-59. All inverse trends in risk were significant, and no heterogeneity was found by reason of BPH-diagnosis, age at diagnosis, and body mass index (BMI). The inverse association between PA and BPH risk may be due to favorable hormonal correlates of PA, but residual confounding by socioeconomic covariates cannot be excluded. A moderate PA at any ages may help reducing a sizeable number of BPH.