Treatment of prostate cancer linked to dementia risk

MONDAY, July 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) – Shortly after the diagnosis of prostate cancer in humans, low-testosterone drugs are often offered as treatment, as testosterone fuels cancer growth.

But a major new study suggests that this approach could have an undesirable side effect: a higher probability of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

"Our findings suggest that clinicians need to increase their awareness of the possible long-term cognitive effects of hormone therapy and discuss these risks with their patients," said study author Ravishankar Jayadevappa. .

He is an Associate Professor of Geriatric Research at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

An expert stated that this raised troubling questions.

"Most of us are less afraid of Alzheimer's disease than cancer," said Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, urology specialist at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital. "When a study opposes one debilitating disease to another, it instills fear in patients."

But the treatment – called androgen deprivation therapy – remains the "gold standard" for many cases of prostate cancer, according to Kavaler. As a result, the new data means "difficult decision-making" for patients and their doctors, she said.

In the new study, the Jayadevappa group examined data from the US National Cancer Institute regarding more than 154,000 prostate cancer patients diagnosed between 1996 and 2003. About 62,000 received hormone-destroying treatment within two years following their diagnosis, while about 92,000 had not been. .

In total, 13% of men who had been following therapy developed Alzheimer's disease during the eight-year follow-up, compared with 9% who had not followed treatment, the study revealed. . According to the researchers, the lifetime prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in men is generally about 12%.

When the team examined the diagnoses of all 22% of those who had received the therapy had received such a diagnosis, compared to 16% of those who had not received hormone therapy.

The Jayadevappa team noted that earlier, smaller studies had revealed similar trends.

However, "to our knowledge, this is one of the most important studies to date on this combination." She followed patients an average of eight years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, "she said. he said in a press release issued by a university.