| RISK FACTORS FOR BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA
AMONG MIGRANT BANGLADESHI MEN IN LONDON
Dr Gillian R. Bentley University College London |
The project commenced in April 2004. The proposal is to examine the risks for BPH among three groups (aged 20-70 years) of migrant Bangladeshi males in London, a reference group of Bangladeshi men still living in Sylhet, Bangladeshi (from where almost all London migrants originate), and a reference group of white men living in London in similar neighbourhoods to the Bangladeshis.
Saliva samples are being collected for the analysis of testosterone and cortisol, fasting blood samples for blood glucose levels, and data from questionnaires that include demographic, health, nutritional and reproductive information, as well as completion of the International Prostate Symptom Score to evaluate lower urinary tract symptoms.
These groups are reported below with the status of completion of data collection indicated:
| GROUP | DATA COLLECTION |
| 70 first-generation Bangladeshi men who migrated to the U.K. as adults (>18 years) | Completed |
| 70 first-generation Bangladeshi men who migrated to the U.K. as children (<13 years) | Approx half completed |
| 70 second-generation Bangladeshi men born and 15 men raised in the U.K. to parents born in Bangladesh | Completed |
| 70 Bangladeshi men living in Sylhet, Bangladesh | Completed |
| 70 white U.K. born, adult men 20 men | Completed |
It has proven more difficult than expected to recruit the reference group of white men. We have advertised in a number of local newspapers with very little success, and are therefore targeting local community centres, gyms, pubs and so forth which is more labour- and time-intensive, but is yielding results. The group of second-generation Bangladeshi males is also difficult to recruit but we are making steady progress in our efforts here. We anticipate full completion of subject recruitment and data collection by the end of the summer 2005.
In May, Kesson Magid, a Masters student at University College London, who has been involved in the Project since its inception and who has extensive laboratory experience, will travel to Chicago to the Endocrinology laboratory of Professor Robert Chatterton at Northwestern University Medical School to undertake the assay work necessary on the samples collected to date. He will return to complete the remaining samples once these are collected.
Following completion of the data collection and lab analyses, we will begin data analyses and preparation of papers.
Earlier this month, we presented a poster at the Human Biology Association Annual Meeting held at Milwaukee, USA, entitled: “Lower urinary tract symptoms and risk for beningn prostatic hyperplasia among migrant Bangladeshi men in London,” by K. Magid, F. Uddin Ahamed, D W Lawson, and G R Bentley. The abstract was published in the American Journal of Human Biology (2005) Vol 17(2):247. Due to the small sample size that we currently have available for the reference group of white men with whom to make comparisons with the Bangladeshis, we have had to rely on already published reports of the prevalence of BPH among UK white males. Although our results are necessarily highly preliminary at this stage we did find that, compared to published values of lower urinary tract symptoms among UK men, values do appear to be higher among Bangladeshi immigrants and the incidence of moderate to severe symptoms appears to occur at an earlier age. It remains to be seen whether these preliminary results are upheld in comparison with the reference group of white men from whom we are currently collecting data who should be better matched for residential neighbourhood and socioeconomic status to the Bangladeshi immigrants.
Research summary dated 25 April 2005
Project 2003/07