Risk Factors for Prostate Cancer in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre: A Case-Control Study

Introduction: In Malaysia, prostate cancer is ranked 6th among male cancer and expected to increase in thefuture. Several factors have shown to be related to prostate cancer such as sociodemographic, lifestyle, diet,occupational exposure, medical and health status. This is the first time a similar study was conducted in Malaysiato recognize the risk factors for prostate cancer patients who came for treatment at Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC).
Methods: Prostate cancer cases diagnosed between 2003 and 2008 whichmet with the inclusion criteria were included in the study. One hundred and twelfth (112) pairs of cases andcontrols matched by age and ethnicity were analysed. McNemar Odds Ratios (ORM) were calculated usingMcNemar Calculator software for univariate analysis while conditional logistic regression was used formultivariate analysis, both using SPSS version 12.0.
Results: Most of the prostate cancer patients (68.8%) thatcame for treatment in UKMMC were above 70 years old. The majority were Chinese (50.0%) followed byMalay (46.4%) and Indian (3.6%). Multivariate analysis showed cases were more likely to have a first-degreerelative with a history of cancer (OR= 3.77, 95% CI= 1.19-11.85), to have been exposed to pesticides (OR= 5.57,95% CI= 1.75-17.78) and consumed more meat (OR= 12.23, 95% CI= 3.89-39.01). Significantly reduced risks ofprostate cancer were noted among those consuming more vegetables (OR= 0.12, 95% CI= 0.02-0.84), moretomatoes (OR= 0.35, 95% CI= 0.13-0.93) and those who had frequent sexual intercourse (OR= 0.44, 95% CI=0.19-0.96).
Conclusion: Some lifestyle and occupation factors are strong predictors of the occurrence of prostatecancer among patients in UKMMC. More importantly, with the identification of the potentially modifiable riskfactors, proper public health intervention can be improved.