ATLANTA—Men with enlarged prostates may be able to decrease the likelihood of clinical progression of their condition by taking dutasteride, according to study findings presented at the American Urological Association 2012 annual meeting.
Using data from the four-year REDUCE (Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events) trial, researchers at the University of Toronto assessed the outcomes of men with enlarged prostates (prostate size greater than 40 mL) and baseline International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) less than 8. They excluded from the study men who were treated with any medications for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) at the time of study entry or who did not complete the end-of-study IPSS questionnaire.
Their cohort included 1,617 patients (825 on placebo and 792 on dutasteride). Of these, 464 patients (29%) experienced BPH clinical progression: 297 (36%) on placebo and 167 (21%) on dutasteride, a significant difference between the groups. After adjusting for multiple variables, dutasteride treatment was associated with a significant 53% reduced risk of BPH clinical progression compared with placebo.
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According to the investigators, seven men with enlarged prostates would need to be treated to prevent one case of BPH clinical progression.
In addition, 76 patients (4.7%) had acute urinary retention: 63 in the placebo arm and 13 in the dutasteride arm.
For the study, which was led by Neil Fleshner, MD, and presented by Paul Toren, MD, the researchers defined BPH clinical progression as a four-point or greater worsening of patients’ IPSS.
