Reducing the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia progression.

The incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia increases with age; the probability of progression rises with age at diagnosis and with baseline symptom severity. Although it is not life-threatening, the condition and its complications have a serious impact on quality of life. Acute urinary retention (AUR), though no longer thought an indication for immediate surgery, still requires treatment, often including surgery. Drug therapy with alpha-adrenergic receptor blockers or 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, such as finasteride, reduces the risk for AUR and the need for surgery, as well as symptoms and bother. Finasteride therapy also results in long-term reduction in prostate volume.