Does ADT increase the risk of diabetes?

Risk of diabetes among patients receiving primary androgen deprivation therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. By Tsai et al. 2014

 

Key sentence from the paper: “[Primary ADT] may increase diabetes risk by 60% and should be used with caution when managing localized [prostate cancer].”

 

For the full abstract, see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25524243

 

Commentary: The simple answer is “yes”, ADT can increase the risk of diabetes. This is not the first study showing that ADT increases the risk of diabetes, but what is new is that the sample size in this retrospective study was very large; i.e., 12,191 men.  The authors found that this association of diabetes with ADT was stronger in men under the age of 70, than in older men. The authors push for getting baseline data on markers of diabetes in men starting on ADT, and regular monitoring for diabetes thereafter…in particular for men on long-term ADT.

 

Tsai, H., Keating, N.L., Van Den Eeden, S.K., Haque, R., Cassidy-Bushrow, A.E., Yood, M.U., Smith, M.R., Potosky, A.L., 2014. Risk of diabetes among patients receiving primary androgen deprivation therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Journal of Urology [Epub ahead of print] 15 December 2014