Regular, Long-Duration Multivitamin Use and Risk of Overall and Aggressive Prostate Cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Purpose:Multivitamin supplement is commonly used among older adults in the United States. Evidence on multivitamin use and prostate cancer risk is limited, and some suggested potential risk for clinically important subtypes of cancer.Materials and Methods:A total of 48,137 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study were followed from 1986 to 2017. Multivitamin use and frequency were self-reported at baseline and updated biennially. Clinical features of prostate cancer included advanced, lethal and high-grade outcomes. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of multivitamin use and incidence of prostate cancer.Results:The median followup for men without prostate cancer diagnosis or death was 30.7 years. We documented 7,108 incident prostate cancer cases including 564 advanced and 1,065 lethal. Overall, we observed a null association between multivitamin use and risk of prostate cancer. Compared to never-users, men who used multivitamin 10 or more tablets per week had similar risk of advanced (HR: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.77–1.70, Ptrend=0.46) or lethal (HR: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.80–1.44, Ptrend=0.59) prostate cancer, and multivitamin use of 15 years or more was not associated with risk of advanced (HR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.80–1.50, Ptrend=0.46) or lethal (HR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.83–1.31, Ptrend=0.13) prostate cancer.Conclusions:Regular or long-duration multivitamin use among older, generally well-nourished men was not associated with either increased or lower risk of overall or aggressive prostate cancer.

This Month in Adult Urology

“…Zhang et al (page 633) from Boston, Massachusetts report on a prospective study of nearly 50,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study to evaluate any link between multivitamin intake and prostate cancer. 5 This observational, prospective cohort study with 30 years of followup studied long-term multivitamin use and prostate cancer, with a focus on more aggressive disease. After adjusting for many established risk factors for prostate cancer, including exercise, caloric intake and prostate specific antigen screening, the authors did not find an association between multivitamin use and advanced prostate cancer compared to never-users.…”

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“…As a prime example, check out the peer review report from Zhang et al (page 633) in this issue of The Journal. 6 Furthermore, The Journal's reviewers will be given the opportunity to track their peer review activity and reports via Publons, which will be linked directly to Editorial Manager. As significant as it is for one's career to contribute to the urological research community through publication, it is equally notable to empower the process by serving as a reviewer.…”