Link between common prostate cancer treatment, dementia detailed in new study

A new analysis of patients who have undergone treatment for prostate cancer shows a connection between androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) -- a testosterone-lowering therapy and a common treatment for the disease -- and dementia, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their previous studies have shown men who undergo ADT may be at an increased risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, compared to men who were not treated with the therapy. This new analysis -- the largest of its kind ever performed on this topic -- shows that all existing studies taken together support the link to dementia and show a possible link to Alzheimer's. The findings are published this week in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. "Since publishing our initial findings, there has been a lot of other research on this topic, and we wanted to see what that research was saying," said the study's lead author Kevin Nead, MD, MPhil, a resident in Radiation Oncology at Penn. "This analysis tells us that the composite message of existing studies is that androgen deprivation therapy is associated with dementia."