Age And Grade Trends In Prostate Cancer (1974-2003): A Surveillance, Epidemiology, And End Results Registry Analysis

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 30 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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UroToday.com - In this study we report an analysis of prostate cancer grade migration trends, by age, using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data over a 30-year period from 1974 to 2003.

Age and grade are critical factors in guiding treatment decision-making and outcomes reporting in prostate cancer. An earlier effort1 reported a general analysis of grade migration showing that outcomes of moderately-differentiated (MD) and well-differentiated (WD) disease have converged due to a grade migration from WD to MD disease.

This current effort can be viewed as an extension of this prior work. We now perform a detailed time-trend analysis, by age, showing that this grade migration occurred across all different age groups studied.

Our study has limitations, most of which relate to limitations in the SEER data itself (unavailability of PSA, Gleason score, and hormone therapy information); however, within stated limitations, our study further supports the concept that grade migration has occurred due to changes in interpretation criteria as opposed to screening-related changes in the natural history of prostate cancer.

Reference

1. AB Jani, et al., Grade migration in prostate cancer: an analysis using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry, Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2007;10(4):347-51

Written by Ashesh B. Jani, MD, as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com

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