Risk of prostate cancer in a population-based cohort of men with coeliac disease

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) is a leading cause of fatal cancer in men in developed countries. Coeliac disease (CD) has previously been linked to a raised cancer risk, and changes in some exposures following a CD diagnosis might hypothetically raise PC risk. METHODS: We identified 10,995 patients with CD who had undergone a small intestinal biopsy in 1969-2007. Statistics Sweden then identified 54,233 age-matched male reference individuals from the general population. PC data were obtained from the Swedish Cancer Register. Hazard ratios (HRs) for PC were estimated using Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: During follow-up, 185 individuals with CD (expected n=200) had an incident diagnosis of PC. This corresponds to a HR of 0.92 (0.79-1.08) (with 95% confidence interval) and an absolute risk reduction of 15/100,000 person-years among those with CD. An increased risk was not observed even when identification of PC began 5 years after biopsy. CONCLUSION: Our conclusion is that a CD diagnosis does not represent an increased risk for PC.