Association between Benign Prostate Hyperplasia and Occupational Group

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Insufficient physical activity is well known to increase benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). However, only few studies have been conducted on the relationship between occupational physical activity and BPH. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between occupational physical activities and BPH in South Korea.METHODS: The study subjects included 4,102 workers who visited the health promotion center at Ulsan University Hospital and underwent transrectal ultrasonography between January 2016 and December 2017. The subjects were divided into two groups according to occupational physical activity (manual or non-manual workers). BPH was defined as a prostate volume of >25 mL. We performed a multivariate regression analysis to investigate the associations between the occupational groups and BPH. In addition, we divided the subgroups according to age and body mass index and analyzed the relationship between occupational physical activities and BPH in each subgroup.RESULTS: The risk of BPH was significantly higher in the non-manual workers than in the manual workers. This result was consistent after adjusting for other risk factors of BPH (odds ratio, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–1.51). Likewise, in the subgroup analysis according to age and body mass index, the non-manual workers had higher BPH risk than the manual workers.CONCLUSION: The risk of BPH was significantly higher in the non-manual workers than in the manual workers. To prevent BPH, more attention should be paid to the physical activities and education of non-manual workers.