Urology Medical News about Alcohol, finasteride, prostate cancer

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Alcohol consumption, finasteride, and prostate cancer risk
Cancer, 07/17/09

Gong Z et al. - In a study to examine the associations of total alcohol, type of alcoholic beverage, and drinking pattern with the risk of total, low-grade, and high-grade prostate cancer (PCa), it was reported that heavy, daily drinking increased the risk of high-grade PCa. Heavy drinking made finasteride ineffective for reducing PCa risk.

Methods

Data for this study came from the 2129 participants in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) who had cancer detected during the 7-yr trial and 8791 men who were determined by biopsy to be free of cancer at the trial end.
Poisson regression was used to calculate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for associations of alcohol intake with PCa risk.

Results

Associations of drinking with high-grade disease did not differ by treatment arm.
In combined arms, heavy alcohol consumption (≥50 g of alcohol daily) and regular heavy drinking (≥4 drinks daily on ≥5 days per week) were associated with increased risks of high-grade PCa; less heavy drinking was not associated with risk.
Associations of drinking with low-grade cancer differed by treatment arm.
In the placebo arm, there was no association of drinking with risk of low-grade cancer.
In the finasteride arm, drinking ≥50 g of alcohol daily was associated with an increased risk of low-grade disease; this finding was because of a 43% reduction in risk of low-grade cancer attributable to finasteride treatment in men who drank <50g of alcohol daily and lack of an effect of finasteride in men who drank ≥50 g of alcohol daily.

Exclusive Author Commentary
Zhihong Gong, 07/17/09

Heavy drinking increased the risk of high-grade prostate cancer and made the finasteride ineffective for reducing prostate cancer risk. Physicians should assess patients’ alcohol consumption when they are counseling men on prostate cancer prevention or prescribing finasteride.

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