Prostate cancer survivors at higher risk of dementia: Study
Korea: Prostate cancer (PC) survivors may be at higher risk for dementia which might be due to the screening effects of PC, according to a recent study in the journal Current Problems in Cancer.
Jihun Kang, University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea, and colleagues conducted the study to investigate the effects of prostate cancer treatment, specifically androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) on dementia risk among PC survivors.
The study included a total of 51,252 patients newly diagnosed with PC from 2007 to 2013 who were matched with 209,659 non-cancer control. PC patients had no prior diagnosis of cancer or dementia.
Read Also: Prostate cancer: Oral relugolix bests inj leuprolide for rapid testosterone suppression
Key findings of the study include:
- Compared to non-PC matched controls, PC survivors showed a slightly higher risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) only in the screening cohort.
- While PC survivors who underwent ADT were at a higher risk for dementia and AD, patients who underwent surgery were at a lower risk for dementia and AD, compared to the non-cancer population.
- Compared to surgery, ADT, surgery + ADT, and active surveillance/watchful waiting showed a significantly elevated risk for dementia.
"Our results showed that compared to non-PC controls, prostate cancer survivors had a slightly higher risk for dementia that may be related to the screening effects of PC. Dementia risk was most prominent among PC patients who underwent ADT, followed by those who underwent AS/WW, and those who underwent surgery + ADT," wrote the authors.
"This suggests that individualized ADT strategies that consider the survival benefit and underlying dementia risk in PC survivors are necessary," they concluded.
Read Also: Inflammatory bowel disease linked to doubling in dementia risk
The study, "Risk of dementia in prostate cancer survivors: A nationwide cohort study in Korea," is published in the journal Current Problems in Cancer.
