Decreasing age at prostate cancer diagnosis over successive generations in prostate cancer families.
BACKGROUND
The decline in age at prostate cancer diagnosis over the past decade is partially attributable to prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening. We examined age at diagnosis over successive generations within prostate cancer families.


METHODS
Families with at least two affected men were selected from the University of Michigan Prostate Cancer Genetics Project. The 1,345 individuals from 489 families were grouped into three generations.


RESULTS
Risk of prostate cancer diagnosis at a given age was estimated to increase 1.31 (95% CI: 1.13-1.51) times from one generation to the next. Among men diagnosed prior to the PSA era, inferences were similar (hazard ratio = 1.28, 95% CI: 0.97-1.68). No maternal versus paternal disease transmission effect was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Age at prostate cancer diagnosis was observed to decrease over successive generations in families from an ongoing familial prostate cancer study. This finding, if confirmed, may have important implications for familial prostate cancer risk assessment.
Bock
Cathryn H
CH
Wayne State University School of Medicine, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA. bockc@med.wayne.edu
Peyser
Patricia A
PA
Montie
James E
JE
Cooney
Kathleen A
KA
D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D005192:Family Health; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D018570:Risk Assessment
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen