Comparison of prostate size and anthropometric parameters between diabetic and non-diabetic Congolese patients who underwent transurethral prostate resection in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Background: Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and type 2 diabetes mellitus are prevalent in older men, and both represent a challenge to public health. Prior studies reported a correlation between BPH and (hyper)glycaemia, a component of the metabolic syndrome, which is on the increase in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to rapid modernization. This study was designed to evaluate the association of prostate volume and anthropometric parameters among diabetic and non-diabetic patients who had transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for BPH. Results: We analyzed data of 159 selected patients who had TURP over a three-year period (February 2014–January 2017) for histologically confirmed BPH. Mean age in the entire cohort was 68 ± 8.5 years. Out of the 159 patients, 94 (59.1%) were non-diabetics and 65 (40.9%) were diabetics. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and fasting blood glucose were significantly higher in diabetic than in non-diabetic group (28.6 ± 4.3 vs 25.6 ± 6.4, and p 0.005; 121.7 ± 45.7 vs 85.4 ± 11.7 mg/dl, and p < 0.001, respectively). BMI and waist circumference were statistically greater in non-diabetics than in diabetics (25.1 ± 3.3 kg/m2 vs 23.6 ± 3.5 kg/m2, and p 0.008; 94.6 cm ± 10.3 vs 90.6 ± 10.4 cm, and p 0.018). Diabetic patients had larger prostate volume than non-diabetic in the working age subgroup only (< 65 years of age); beyond 65 years, this difference was not consistent (62.6 ± 23.1 cc vs 50.1 ± 20.7 cc, and p 0.027; 56.2 ± 23.7 cc vs 49 ± 20.2 cc, and p 0.15, respectively). Prostate size was significantly associated with fasting blood glucose (p = 0.002) and PSA (p = 0.027). However, prostate size was not related to age, presence of diabetes, BMI, waist circumference, IPSS, quality of life score, and duration of symptoms. Conclusion: Prostate volume is not correlated with anthropometric parameters in diabetic and non-diabetic Congolese patients who had TURP in South Kivu. Diabetics were not obese and yet had larger prostate volume than non-diabetics < 65 years of age. It is hoped that these results would form groundwork for further studies on this topic in SSA region.