Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Prostate Cancer Linked

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Men with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk for prostate cancer (PCa), according to a study published online Dec. 4 in European Urology.

Jacob A. Burns, from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues compared the incidence of PCa between men with and without IBD in a retrospective matched-cohort study. A total of 1,033 male patients with IBD were matched with 9,306 controls by age and race.

The researchers found that the incidence of PCa at 10 years was 4.4 and 0.65 percent among men with IBD and controls, respectively (hazard ratio, 4.84). At 10 years, the incidence of clinically significant PCa was 2.4 and 0.42 percent for men with IBD and controls (hazard ratio, 4.04). Prostate-specific antigen values were higher among men with IBD at approximately age 60 years.

“These patients may need to be screened more carefully than a man without inflammatory bowel disease,” a coauthor said in a statement. “If a man with inflammatory bowel disease has an elevated prostate-specific antigen, it may be an indicator of prostate cancer.”

Abstract/Full Text