Bladder Cancer Survival of Men Receiving 5α-Reductase Inhibitors

May 2018 in “ The Journal of Urology ”

Ville Mäkelä, Andres Kotsar, Teuvo L.J. Tammela, Teemu J. Murtola

5-alpha-reductase inhibitors 5-ARIs α-blockers alpha-blockers

TLDR Men taking 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors before or after bladder cancer diagnosis had a lower risk of dying from the disease.

The study analyzed the impact of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) on bladder cancer-specific mortality in 10,720 Finnish men diagnosed with bladder cancer from 1997 to 2012, with a median follow-up of 4.17 years. It found that men who used 5-ARIs before their diagnosis had a lower risk of dying from bladder cancer, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.84 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.73-0.97. This risk reduction was more pronounced with longer use. Additionally, men who started 5-ARIs after their diagnosis also had a decreased risk of bladder cancer death (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.68-0.88). The study concluded that 5-ARIs could improve survival in bladder cancer patients, while α-blockers did not show a similar association with survival. However, the retrospective and non-randomized nature of the study suggests that further research is needed to confirm these findings.

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