Black men on androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer were 20 percent less likely than White men to undergo bone density testing, which is significantly associated with a decreased risk for major osteoporotic fractures.
Androgen deprivation therapy can affect bone health, resulting in decreased bone mineral density and fractures.
In a group of nearly 55,000 men 66 years or older treated with this therapy from 2005 to 2015, those who received dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) screening had a 9 percent lower risk of major fractures compared with those who did not.
“Early intervention with bone-modifying agents could potentially reduce the burden of illness associated with fractures among older men who are survivors of prostate cancer,” said researcher Maria Suarez-Almazor, MD (above), of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and her colleagues.
- See “For Men on ADT, Checking Bone Density May Thwart Fractures — But testing rates remain low among older prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy” by Mike Bassett on the MedPage Today website (April 1, 2022)
- See the full text of the scientific paper “Association of Bone Mineral Density Testing With Risk of Major Osteoporotic Fractures Among Older Men Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy to Treat Localized or Regional Prostate Cancer” by Maria E. Suarez-Almazor et al.
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