Association between ambient particulate matter exposure and risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia in middle-aged and older men: A longitudinal cohort study based on CHARLS

Hanxiao HU; Chuchu LIU; Yuyuan HU; Jiali CHEN; Lingyi WANG; Xiaobo LIU; Yue WU

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Association between ambient particulate matter exposure and risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia in middle-aged and older men: A longitudinal cohort study based on CHARLS

VernacularTitle:大气颗粒物暴露与中老年男性良性前列腺增生风险的关联：基于CHARLS的纵向队列研究
Author: Hanxiao HU ¹ ; Chuchu LIU ¹ ; Yuyuan HU ¹ ; Jiali CHEN ¹ ; Lingyi WANG ¹ ; Xiaobo LIU ² ; Yue WU ¹
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1. School of Public Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310053, China.
2. National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.
Publication Type:Investigation
Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia; air pollution; particulate matter; China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study; cohort study
From: Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2026;43(5):630-636
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Background Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common chronic urinary disease in middle-aged and older men, yet the impact of long-term exposure to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) on its pathogenesis remains unclear. Objective To investigate the association between PM exposure and the risk of incident BPH in middle-aged and older men. Methods Based on four waves of follow-up data (2011–2018) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), 4766 participants were enrolled. Robust Poisson regression models were employed to assess the association between exposure to PM (PM₁, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀) and the risk of incident BPH. Relative risks (RR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated. Dose-response relationships were fitted using restricted cubic splines (RCS). Subgroup analyses were performed to explore potential effect modifications, and multiple imputation was used to handle missing data. Results Over a mean follow-up of 6 years, 914 incident BPH cases were identified among the4766 participants (cumulative incidence: 19.18%). After adjusting for confounders, each 10 μg·m⁻³ increase in PM₁, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀ concentrations was associated with a 13.1% (RR=1.131, 95%CI: 1.063, 1.203), 8.5% (RR=1.085, 95%CI: 1.050, 1.122), and 5.1% (RR=1.051, 95%CI: 1.034, 1.069) increased risk of BPH, respectively. RCS analysis showed that no nonlinear relationship was found between PM₁ and PM_2.5 and the risk of BPH (P>0.05); however, a nonlinear association was observed for PM₁₀ (P=0.03), with the risk increment slowing beyond 100 μg·m⁻³. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings. Conclusion Long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter may be associated with an increased risk of incident BPH in middle-aged and older men.