Growth hormone and prostate cancer risk: A case-control study

1098 We conducted the present analyses to assess the association of prostate cancer risk with basal levels of growth hormone (GH), in a case-control study carried out in Buffalo, NY, between 1998 and 2001(the PROMEN study). Eighty-eight men, aged 45-85, with incident, primary pathologically confirmed prostate cancer and 251 residence-matched controls were enrolled in the study. Prostate cancer cases were enrolled and their biological specimens collected prior to any therapy. To exclude latent prostate carcinomas, the present study included only patients with clinically apparent disease (stage B and higher). Prostate cancer cases and control subjects were excluded if on hormonal treatment, or affected with metabolic or endocrine diseases. Control subjects with a prostate specific antigen (PSA) value higher than 4ng/ml were excluded from the control group. Serum basal GH levels were assayed by immunometric method after a reliability study of GH determinations in 51 healthy men over a one-year period. The intraclass correlation coefficient for matched samples was 86% (p