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A new study finds that hormone therapy drugs commonly used in men to treat prostate cancer may heighten the risk of diabetes and heart disease, indicating such therapy should be prescribed more prudently, researchers announced.

GnRH Drugs to Treat Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer afflicting thousands of American men every year. The disease is normally treated with surgery, radiation therapy and drug therapy in cases where the cancer has spread.

However, the testosterone-blocking drugs known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agaonists have in recent years become standard treatment for men with prostate cancer, making the results of the study even more significant.

Study Findings

Researchers evaluated data gathered in the 1990s from over 70,000 men whose cancer had not metastasized or had just begun to metastasize and continued to monitor them until 2001 or 2002.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that men who were using one of the GnRH drugs had a 44 percent chance they would develop diabetes, 16 percent increased risk of developing heart disease, and were 11 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or sudden death from heart failure.

“Given the number of people on these drugs and the fact that some of these men may not necessarily be getting any benefit, I think it''s a bit concerning,” said lead author of the study Nancy L. Keating of Harvard Medical School. “What this means is that doctors and their patients really need to think about these risks and think about why they are really on these drugs.”

Other experts believe more data is needed to further explore the results of the study.

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