A retrospective study conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that prostate cancer patients who are treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) are twice as likely as those who are not treated with these testosterone-lowering drugs to develop dementia within 5 years. Clinical data from Stanford on nearly 10,000 patients with prostate cancer were examined, and 7.9% of the 1,829 patients who received ADT developed dementia within 5 years, versus 3.5% of patients not treated with ADT. The investigators stated that alternative treatment is worth considering depending on a patient’s dementia history and that prostate cancer patients receiving ADT should not alter their medications without speaking with their physician.
