New Swedish study below.
I have to chuckle. It seems that there are so many PCa risk factors that one can't help but have 3 or 4. And now a new one for my list.
When I was 8 I had mumps. Unknown to my doctor I had appendicitis at the same time. I was in bed with unbearable pain for several weeks before the appendix burst. I have never known such serenity as at that point. But judging from the expressions on the grown-ups faces, the situation was grim.
In 1956, my treatment after surgery included hourly injections at first. My rear end was a pin cushion & the nurses seemed determined that I get no sleep. I was released after 3 weeks, but a nurse came to the house for a while for a daily injection.
I mention this to stress the duration of the condition:
"The study lends support to the proposed role of inflammation in prostate carcinogenesis".
Seems ironic that I have written so much about inflammation, but not thought of that time 63 years ago.
"Appendicitis before age 20 years has been observed to influence the risk of several inflammatory conditions, possibly through underlying immunological mechanisms. Inflammation has further been suggested to be involved in prostate cancer development. We therefore hypothesized that immunological characteristics signaled by appendicitis before late adolescence might influence the risk of later prostate cancer, and aimed to evaluate this association in a population-based study."
"During a median of 36.7 years of follow-up, 1,684 diagnoses of prostate cancer occurred. We found a statistically significant association between appendicitis and overall prostate cancer" {70% increased risk}
"The risk was notably increased for advanced" PCa. Risk factor = 4.42.
"and lethal" PCa. Risk factor = 8.95.
That last factor is scary & makes my other risk factors look insignificant. But it is a group number, & IMO, we can always outperform the group.
-Patrick
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/295...
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2018 Mar 27. pii: cebp.1204.2017. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-1204. [Epub ahead of print]
Appendicitis before age 20 years is associated with an increased risk of later prostate cancer.
Ugge H1, Udumyan R2, Carlsson J3, Davidsson S4, Andrén O3, Montgomery S5, Fall K6.
Author information
1
Faculty of Medicine and Health/Department of Urology, Örebro University henrik.ugge@regionorebrolan.se.
2
Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistic.
3
Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University.
4
Örebro University.
5
Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics/Clinical Epidemiology Unit/Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Örebro University/Karolinska Institutet/University College London.
6
Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Appendicitis before age 20 years has been observed to influence the risk of several inflammatory conditions, possibly through underlying immunological mechanisms. Inflammation has further been suggested to be involved in prostate cancer development. We therefore hypothesized that immunological characteristics signaled by appendicitis before late adolescence might influence the risk of later prostate cancer, and aimed to evaluate this association in a population-based study.
METHODS:
We identified a large cohort of Swedish men who underwent assessment for military conscription around the age of 18 years (n= 242,573). Medical diagnoses at time of conscription were available through the Swedish Military Conscription Register. The Swedish Cancer Register was used to identify diagnoses of prostate cancer. Multivariable adjusted Cox regression analyses were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between appendicitis and prostate cancer.
RESULTS:
During a median of 36.7 years of follow-up, 1,684 diagnoses of prostate cancer occurred. We found a statistically significant association between appendicitis and overall prostate cancer (adjusted HR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.08-2.67). The risk was notably increased for advanced (HR: 4.42; 95% CI: 1.74-11.22) and lethal (HR: 8.95; 95% CI: 2.98-26.91) prostate cancer.
CONCLUSION:
These results suggest that a diagnosis of appendicitis before adulthood potentially signals underlying immune characteristics and a pattern of inflammatory response relevant to prostate cancer risk.
IMPACT:
The study lends support to the proposed role of inflammation in prostate carcinogenesis, and adds another area of investigation potentially relevant to prostate cancer development.
Copyright ©2018, American Association for Cancer Research.
PMID: 29588305 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-1204
Blood pressure medications and prostate cancer
