Impact of treatment with statins on prostate-specific antigen and prostate volume in patients with benign prostatic...

We investigated the impact on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate volume (PV) of statin medication for 1 year in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

We retrospectively investigated 791 patients in whom BPH was diagnosed. For analysis, the patients were divided into four groups according to their medications: group A, α-blocker; group B, α-blocker+statin; group C, α-blocker+dutasteride; group D, α-blockers+statin+dutasteride. To investigate changes in serum PSA, PV, and total cholesterol, we analyzed the data at the time of initial treatment and after 1 year of medication.

After 1 year, group A showed a 1.3% increase in PSA and a 1.0% increase in PV. Group B showed a 4.3% decrease in PSA and a 1.8% decrease in PV. The difference in PV reduction between groups A and B was statistically significant (p<0.001). Group C showed a 49.1% reduction in PSA and a 22.9% reduction in PV. Group D showed a 51.6% reduction in PSA and a 24.5% reduction in PV. The difference in PV reduction between groups C and D was not statistically significant (p=0.762). By use of a multivariate logistic regression model, we found that the probability of PV reduction after 1 year was more than 14.8 times in statin users than in statin nonusers (95% confidence interval, 5.8% to 37.6%; p<0.001).

Statin administration reduced PSA and PV in BPH patients. This finding may imply the improvement of lower urinary tract symptoms and prevention of cardiovascular disease and chemoprevention of prostate cancer with statin treatment.