BACKGROUND

This nationwide population-based study investigated the risk of cardiovascular diseases after 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor therapy for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan.

METHODS

In total, 1,486 adult patients newly diagnosed with BPH and who used 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors were recruited as the study cohort, along with 9,995 subjects who did not use 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors as a comparison cohort from 2003 to 2008. Each patient was monitored for 5 years, and those who subsequently had cardiovascular diseases were identified. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the risk of cardiovascular diseases between the study and comparison cohorts after adjusting for possible confounding risk factors.

RESULTS

The patients who received 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor therapy had a lower cumulative rate of cardiovascular diseases than those who did not receive 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor therapy during the 5-year follow-up period (8.4% vs. 11.2%, P=0.003). In subgroup analysis, the 5-year cardiovascular event hazard ratio (HR) was lower among the patients older than 65 years with 91 to 365 cumulative defined daily dose (cDDD) 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor use (HR=0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42 to 0.92; P=0.018), however there was no difference among the patients with 28 to 90 and more than 365 cDDD 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor use (HR=1.14, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.68; P=0.518 and HR=0.83, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.20; P=0.310, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

5-alpha-reductase inhibitor therapy did not increase the risk of cardiovascular events in the BPH patients in 5 years of follow-up. Further mechanistic research is needed.