Anti hormone therapy increases heart failure risk in prostate cancer

U.S.A: A new study published in the journal American College of Clinical Pharmacology reports that androgen deprivation therapy users had a higher risk of heart failure than nonusers among prostate cancer patients. The study revealed that Androgen deprivation therapy was associated with a 72 percent higher risk of heart failure in prostate cancer patients.

Hui‐Han Kao and associates conducted a cohort study in Taiwan to investigate the relationship between androgen deprivation therapy and heart failure among prostate cancer patients.

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The cohort study identified 1244 prostate cancer patients who had received androgen deprivation therapy as the study cohort and 1806 prostate cancer patients who did not receive androgen deprivation therapy as the comparison cohort.

Each prostate cancer patient was tracked for 1 year from the index date to ascertain whether they were subsequently diagnosed with heart failure.

The key findings of the study included are:

• In the full cohort study, incidence rates of heart failure per 100 person‐years within the 1‐year follow‐up period were 4.00 and 1.89 for androgen deprivation therapy users and nonusers, respectively.


• In addition, the multivariable Cox regression indicated that the hazard ratio (HR) of heart failure among androgen deprivation therapy users was 1.72 compared with those androgen deprivation therapy nonusers.


• In the propensity score‐matched cohort study, the adjusted HR for heart failure among androgen deprivation therapy users was 1.92 compared with propensity score‐matched nonusers.

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"The results of our study provide information for prostate cancer patients to be aware of the potential heart failure risk of receiving androgen deprivation therapy," the authors wrote.

"We recommend that clinicians should counsel their patients regarding modifiable heart failure risk factors, suggest they improve their lifestyle, and further provide a relevant cardiovascular examination for prostate cancer patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy."

For full information log on to http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcph.1332