ABSTRACT
As suggested by Berry and colleagues30 on the basis of autopsy studies, benign prostatic hyperplasia is generally a gradually progressive disease that commences in men who are around 40 years of age (Figure 69). Data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging31 suggest that symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia also tends to progress with time in the majority of men (Figure 70). The average prostate volume increase is in the order of 0.6 ml per annum, and this is associated with a mean diminution of flow rate of 0.2 ml/s/year32 (Figure 71). Recent data confirm that men with larger prostates and higher PSA values suffer a faster rate of disease progression than those with smaller glands (Figure 72)33.
