Does chronic obstructive pulmonary disease increase the risk of prostate cancer? A nationwide population-based study

Abstract

Wen-Lin Hsu,1,* Hung-Yi Chen,2,* Fung-Wei Chang,3–5 Ren-Jun Hsu6,71Department of Radiation Oncology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan; 2Divisions of Urology, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan; 3Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; 4Tri-Service General Hospital Penghu Branch, National Defense Medical Center, Penghu Branch, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Cancer Research Center, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan; 7College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, TaiwanCorrespondence: Ren-Jun HsuCancer Research Center, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, No. 707, Sec. 3, Chung-Yang Road, Hualien 970, TaiwanTel [phone]Fax [phone]#15620Email [email protected] ChangDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, TaiwanEmail [email protected]*These authors contributed equally to this workPurpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major pulmonary disease. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between COPD and prostate cancer (PCa). This study aimed to investigate the association between COPD severity and PCa risk.Patients and methods: We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study utilizing data from 2001 to 2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Cox proportional hazards models with 1:1 propensity score-matched analysis were used to investigate the association between COPD and PCa risk. We further divided the COPD group according to severe complications (including acute respiratory failure, cardiopulmonary arrest, pneumonia, and acute exacerbation) to test for the relationship between COPD severity and PCa risk.Results: This study included 47,634 patients (23,817 COPD patients and 23,817 matched non-COPD controls). Among them, 756 (1.59%) were diagnosed with PCa during a mean follow-up period of 7.05±4.13 years; 387 (1.62%) were from the COPD group and 369 (1.55%) were from the control group. Compared with the patients without COPD, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for PCa in the COPD patients was 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.95–1.27), while that in the COPD patients with complications was 2.46 (95% CI 1.96–3.61).Conclusions: An increased risk for PCa was found among the COPD patients with complications. COPD complications included acute respiratory failure, cardiopulmonary arrest, pneumonia, and acute exacerbation. These findings may help physicians in treating COPD with complications and in remaining alert to the potential development of PCa.Keywords: National Health Insurance Research Database, prostate cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  

Keywords

• National Health Insurance Research Database
• prostate cancer
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease