PROSTATE-CANCER MORTALITY IN NORTHERN SWEDEN, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TUMOR GRADE AND PATIENT AGE

Objectives, This study is designed to estimate the prostate cancer-spe cific mortality according to patient age and tumor grade in an unselec ted population of patients with prostate cancer who mostly received de ferred or direct hormonal treatment as initial treatment. Methods, The study population was composed of 6514 patients diagnosed with prostat e cancer during 1971 to 1987 in northern Sweden. For those who died du ring follow-up, the cause of death was determined from the comprehensi ve Swedish registry data (population registries and causes of death re gistry). Results. About 85% of these patients died during the 7 to 23 years of follow-up, and the prostate cancer-specific mortality was est imated to be 55%. Age at diagnosis was found to be a strong predictor of prostate cancer death. Patients diagnosed before the age of 60 had an 80% risk of dying of prostate cancer, whereas those over 80 years o f age at diagnosis had less than a 50% risk of prostate cancer-related death. Conclusions. The prostate cancer mortality is high but decreas es with older age at diagnosis. We found, using data from the causes o f death registry, that the relative survival and the cause-specific su rvival of these patients were compatible with each other. (C) 1997, El sevier Science Inc.