Relationship between serum testosterone and nocturia in men without benign prostate enlargement.

Recent studies have focused on the relationship between nocturia and serum testosterone because testosterone is thought to be an important factor of prostate growth. However, it remains unclear whether altered serum concentrations of testosterone is associated with an increased risk of nocturia because patients who were taking diuretics or who had a large prostate, which may precipitate nocturia, were not excluded from most previous studies. We analyzed the clinical records of 596 non-benign prostatic enlargement (BPE) male patients to explore the relationship between serum total testosterone and nocturia. All patients were evaluated using a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay, measurement of serum total testosterone, transrectal ultrasonography, uroflowmetry, and a compilation of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaires. Nocturia was defined as ≥2 nocturnal voiding episodes. The number of nocturia episodes was assessed using IPSS question 7. To evaluate the effect of serum testosterone on nocturia, multivariate regression analysis was performed including the covariates of age, IPSS, IIEF score, body mass index, PSA, prostate volume, and maximal urine flow rate. Based on multivariate linear analysis, serum testosterone level was not significantly associated with the severity of nocturia. However, with regard to the relationship between prevalence of nocturia and serum testosterone, prevalence of nocturia was significantly positively associated with age (OR = 1.048, p = 0.005), total IPSS (OR = 1.217, p < 0.001), and testosterone level (OR = 1.150, p = 0.041). Therefore, in men without an enlarged prostate, testosterone may play an opposing role in the etiology of nocturia.

The role of inflammation and infection in prostate cancer: Importance in prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

It is currently estimated that infections and inflammatory responses are linked to 15-20% of all deaths from cancer worldwide. Many studies point to an important role of inflammation in prostate growth, although the contribution of inflammation to benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer is not completely understood. There is an unmet need for epidemiologic and molecular pathologic approaches to address the issue of inflammation and prostate cancer. Here we review the published evidence with respect to the involvement of inflammation and infection in prostate cancer. We also present an overarching hypothesis that chronic inflammation associated with aging and infection may play an important role in the etiology and progression of prostate cancer. As such, chronic inflammation may represent an important therapeutic target in prostate cancer.