History of gonorrhea and prostate cancer in a population-based case-control study in Mexico

Abstract

We evaluated the association between a history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the risk for prostate cancer (PC) among Mexican males.

Methods: PC incident cases (n=402) that were identified at six public hospitals in Mexico City were matched by age (±5 years) with 805 population controls with no history of PC. By face-to-face interview, we obtained information about sexual history, previous STDs, sociodemographic characteristics, and familial history of PC. An unconditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the risk for PC.

Results: A total of 16.6% of men reported having had at least one previous STD, and the most frequently reported STD was gonorrhea (10.5%). After adjusting by PC familial history, the history of STD was associated with a two-fold greater risk of PC: odds ratio (OR)=2.67; 95% confidence interval (95% CI=1.91-3.73). When each STD was evaluated separately, only gonorrhea was associated with a significant increase in PC risk (OR=3.04; 95% CI=1.99-4.64). These associations were similar when we stratified by low-risk PC (Gleason <7) and high-risk PC (Gleason ≥7).

Conclusion: These results confirm that STDs, and particularly gonorrhea, may play an etiological role in PC among Mexican males, which is consistent with a previous report from a multiethnic cohort.

Keywords: Gonorrea; Mexico; Prostate cáncer; Sexually transmitted diseases.