Men, if you have noticed that lately you have a need to urinate more frequently, it may not be due to an enlarging prostate but maybe a sign of an impending issue with heart disease and diabetes. You should know by now that frequent urination is one of the risk factors of diabetes. It may be time to have a visit with a urologist to determine the cause of any urinary problems you are experiencing.
The following article explains further how diabetes and heart disease maybe a signal for a follow-up with your doctor.
Heart disease risk factors also linked with urinary tract problems
By Kathryn Doyle
In one study, men with metabolic syndrome – a collection of traits that raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes –were almost twice as likely to be treated for urinary symptoms than men without the syndrome, researchers found.
Features of metabolic syndrome include a large waist circumference, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The study didn’t look at what would happen if such risk factors improved. But still, the researchers say, “Prevention of such modifiable factors by the promotion of dietary changes and regular physical activity practice may be of great importance” for helping men with urinary tract symptoms.
Frequency, urgency, and bladder leakage have all been associated with obesity, and may also be associated with metabolic syndrome, the authors wrote in BJU International.
Researchers at Saint-Louis Hospital and Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, led by Pourya Pashootan, studied 4,666 men with an average age of 55 who visited their general practitioners in November 2009.
Doctors recorded patients’ urinary tract symptoms (if any), height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and other markers of metabolic syndrome.
They also recorded symptoms of incomplete bladder emptying, weak stream, intermittency, straining, and need to urinate during the night.
A quarter of the men were obese. Roughly half the men had metabolic syndrome.
Almost 39 percent had moderate lower urinary tract symptoms, and 9 percent had severe symptoms, according to their doctors.
Previous studies have suggested an association between metabolic syndrome and annual prostate growth rate, the authors note. An enlarging prostate may then lead to urinary tract symptoms, according to Dr. Mike Kirby of The Prostate Centre in London, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“For men the link between metabolic syndrome and enlarging prostates is strong,” Kirby told Reuters Health by phone.
“The toxic fat in the belly produces a growth factor that makes the prostate grow, and that toxic fat is part of metabolic syndrome,” he said.
Obesity has been linked to prostate inflammation, said Cosimo De Nunzio of the department of urology at the University La Sapienza in Rome, who was not part of the new research.
Other recent evidence indicates metabolic syndrome may also be associated with prostate cancer, he told Reuters Health by email.
“Men go to the doctor with lower urinary tract symptoms and the doctor deals with bladder and prostate but forgets to look at the rest of the man around the prostate,” Kirby said.
Lifestyle interventions like weight loss, physical activity and health eating habits are the foundation of reducing metabolic syndrome, and may also alter prostate growth rate, the authors write.
“Diet and exercise are critically important,” Kirby said.
Another study in the same issue of BJUI, by Dr. Richard Stubbs of Wakefield Hospital in Wellington, New Zealand and colleagues, found that lower urinary tract symptoms also tend to improve after weight loss surgery, regardless of how much weight is lost.
Urinary tract symptoms or erectile dysfunction can be signs of metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of many other dangerous conditions, and urologists should keep this in mind, Kirby said.
“If we persuade doctors to think laterally, there is great potential to do something to prevent diabetes, heart attacks and strokes,” he said.
“As doctors we need ways to encourage people to change their lifestyles.” Kirby said.
You can view the original post here.P.S. As the article suggests, incorporating a healthy diet and following a proper exercise regimen is a sure fire way to combat pre-diabetes.
P.P.S. Visit How to Prevent Pre-diabetes for more information on how to prevent pre-diabetes now.