Published Study Results

New publications

Talala K, Heinävaara S, Taari K, Tammela T, Kujala P, Stenman U-H, Malila N, Auvinen A; Long-Term Health-Related Quality of Life among Men with Prostate Cancer in the Finnish Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. Cancer Med 2020;9(15):5643-5654.

The long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) impacts of PCa screening have not been adequately evaluated. We aimed to compare the generic and disease-specific HRQOL among men with prostate cancer in the screening arm with the control arm of the Finnish PSA-based prostate cancer screening trial in up to 15 years of follow-up. HRQOL questionnaires were delivered to newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients in the screening and control arm 1996–2006 (N=5128) at the time of diagnosis (baseline), at 3-month, 12-month and 5, 10, and 15-year follow-up. Long-term follow-up revealed slightly higher HRQOL scores in the screening arm in prostate cancer specific measures at 10-year post diagnosis, but the differences were statistically significant only in Urinary Bother. Our study suggests that HRQOL in men with prostate cancer would not differ between those in the screening arm and control arm during five to 15-year follow-up.

Siltari A, Murtola TJ, Talala K, Taari K, Tammela TLJ, Auvinen A. Antihypertensive drug use and prostate cancer survival in Finnish men. PLoS One 2020;15(6):e0234269.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of antihypertensive drug use on prostate cancer-specific mortality among Finnish men. We used a comprehensive Finnish population-based cohort, the Finnish Randomized study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, and linked the epidemiological data with the prescription drug database. Our main finding was that use of renin-angiotensin system inhibiting drugs, especially angiotensin II receptor blockers, improved survival among prostate cancer patients. Overall antihypertensive drug use was associated with decreased survival. However, from separate drug groups it was associated with use of diuretics, which are commonly described for edema and fluid-retention problems common in advanced cancer. Thus, it may be explanation for decreased survival overall.