Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

BACKGROUND: Risk factors for prostate cancer are not well understood. Red blood cell, platelet and white blood cell indices may be markers of a range of exposures that might be related to prostate cancer risk. Therefore, we examined the associations of haematological parameters with prostate cancer risk. METHODS: Complete blood count data from 209,686 male UK Biobank participants who were free from cancer at study baseline were analysed. Participants were followed-up via data linkage. After a mean follow-up of 6.8 years, 5,723 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 323 men died from prostate cancer. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for prostate cancer incidence and mortality by haematological parameters, and corrected for regression dilution bias. RESULTS: Higher red blood cell (HR per 1 SD increase=1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.13) and platelet counts (HR=1.07, 1.04-1.11) were associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. Higher mean corpuscular volume (HR=0.90, 0.87-0.93), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (HR=0.90, 0.87-0.93), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (HR=0.87, 0.77-0.97) and mean sphered cell volume (HR=0.91, 0.87-0.94) were associated with a lower prostate cancer risk. Higher white blood cell (HR=1.14, 1.05-1.24) and neutrophil count (HR=1.27, 1.09-1.48) were associated with prostate cancer mortality. CONCLUSIONS: These associations of blood indices of prostate cancer risk and mortality may implicate shared common causes, including testosterone, nutrition and inflammation/infection among several others in prostate cancer development and/or progression. IMPACT: These associations provide insights into prostate cancer development and progression.

Original publication

DOI

10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-1525

Type

Journal article

Journal

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev

Publication Date

26/05/2020