Osteoporosis May Be Present Before Prostate Cancer ADT

Osteoporosis is common and underdiagnosed in Danish men prior to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer, according to a study results published online ahead of print in the Scandinavian Journal of Urology. Vitamin D insufficiency also may be underdiagnosed in these men.

Mads Hvid Poulsen, MD, PhD, of the Odense University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues researchers studied at 105 PCa patients who had a mean age of 70 years. They obtained sociodemographic information and medical history, took blood samples, and performed dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans to measure bone mass density.

Fifty patients (48%) had localized disease and were to be treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) with 3 years of ADT and 55 (52%) had newly-diagnosed disseminated disease and were to be treated with lifelong ADT (52%). The median PSA level was 30.5 g/L and average Gleason score was 7.8.

Osteoporosis was present in 10% of patients and osteopenia was present in 58%. Furthermore, 37% of patients had vitamin D insufficiency (levels below 50 nmol/L). Smoking was the only factor significantly associated with an increased prevalence of osteoporosis, the researchers reported.

“More awareness regarding osteoporosis and bone health in prostate cancer is needed, and we recommend that patients with prostate cancer undergo DXA scanning before starting ADT,” the authors concluded.

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