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Sex steroid hormones in young manhood and the risk of subsequent prostate cancer: a longitudinal study in African-Americans and Caucasians (United States)

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Abstract

Objective

To investigate the relation of sex hormone levels in young adults to subsequent prostate cancer risk.

Methods

From 1959 to 1967, the Child Health and Development Studies collected sera from 10,442 men (median age: 34 years) and followed them for a median of 32 years. In this analysis, we selected 119 African-Americans and 206 Caucasians diagnosed with prostate cancer during the follow-up period. Two prostate cancer-free men were chosen to match each prostate cancer case on race and birth year. We compared the levels of testosterone, estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin in cases to those of their matched controls using conditional logistic regression.

Results

There was no significant association between absolute levels of sex hormones in youth and prostate cancer risk in either race. However, among Caucasians, but not African-Americans, prostate cancer risk was positively associated with the ratio of total testosterone to total estradiol (odds ratio relating the fourth to the first quartile: 3.01; 95% confidence interval: 1.42–6.39).

Conclusions

The association between testosterone to estradiol ratio and prostate cancer risk in young Caucasians is consistent with similar findings in older Caucasians. The absence of this association in African-Americans needs confirmation in other data involving larger numbers of African-Americans.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NIH grant CA94069 and the Cancer Research Fund, under Interagency Agreement (97-12013 (University of California contract (98-00924v) with the Department of Health Services Cancer Research Program. The authors acknowledge the efforts of the late Dr. Jacob Yerushalmy who initiated the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) and had the vision to include fathers in the cohort; Dr. Barbara J. van den Berg, the second CHDS Director, who preserved the archived serum samples and initiated cancer follow-up; Roberta E. Christianson who updates the cancer linkage and maintains the serum inventory, the late Dr. Frank W. Oechsli who developed methods for vital status follow-up, and Dr. Pentti Siiteri who provided helpful comments on the manuscript. We also acknowledge the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for support of the maintenance of the CHDS cohort, including the cancer linkage (N0HD13334 and N01HD63258) and William Wright and his staff at the California Tumor Registry, who helped develop the CHDS cohort as a resource for cancer research. The authors also wish to thank Lilly Chang for performing the hormone assays. Mention of trade name, proprietary product or specific equipment does not constitute a guaranty or warranty by the Department of Health Services, nor does it imply approval to the exclusion of other products. The views expressed herein represent those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the State of Californian, Department of Health Services.

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Correspondence to Alice S. Whittemore.

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Tsai, C.J., Cohn, B.A., Cirillo, P.M. et al. Sex steroid hormones in young manhood and the risk of subsequent prostate cancer: a longitudinal study in African-Americans and Caucasians (United States). Cancer Causes Control 17, 1237–1244 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0052-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0052-4

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