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

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/m 2 vs 23.6 ± 3.5 kg/m 2 , 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.