Elevated BP unlikely to increase risk of prostate cancer

High blood pressure (BP) levels do not appear to be an important risk factor for prostate cancer development and death, a study reports.

Researchers looked at 430,472 men from five Swedish cohorts. They examined BP, which was measured at a mean age of 38 years among the participants, in relation to the risk of incident prostate cancer and associated mortality.

During the study, 32,720 of participants developed prostate cancer and 6,718 died from prostate cancer. Multivariable Cox regression models showed that increasing systolic and diastolic BP levels combined were linked to a slightly lower prostate cancer risk (per standard deviation [SD] of mid-BP [average of systolic and diastolic BP]: hazard ratio [HR], 0.98, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.97–0.99).

The association observed was limited to the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era (1997 onwards: HR, 0.96, 95 percent CI, 0.95–0.98), to diagnoses initiated by a PSA test in asymptomatic men (HR, 0.95, 95 percent CI, 0.93–0.97), and to low-risk prostate cancer (HR, 0.95, 95 percent CI, 0.92–0.97).

There was no clear association between BP and more advanced prostate cancer at diagnosis.

Among patients with prostate cancer, higher BP levels were associated with a slightly higher risk of prostate cancer death (per SD of mid-BP: HR, 1.05, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.08). However, this observation was only pronounced for distant metastatic prostate cancer (p=0.01 for heterogeneity), and there was no association for BP measured less than 10 years prior to diagnosis.