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Transgender women are still at risk for prostate cancer
Northern Star Girl:
Transgender women are still at risk for prostate cancer
Medical X press
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-transgender-women-prostate-cancer.html
by University of California, San Francisco
April 29, 2023
EXCERPTS Below: (Click NEWS Link above to view entire story)
Transgender women keep their prostates even after gender-affirming surgery, but the extent to which they remain at risk of prostate cancer has been unclear.
Now a first of its kind study led by UC San Francisco has estimated the risk at about 14 cases per 10,000 people.
The study found 155 confirmed transgender women with prostate cancer and stratified them according to whether they had used estrogen: 116 had never used estrogen, 17 had once used estrogen but stopped before they were diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 22 were actively on estrogen.
While the numbers were small, they suggest that transgender women taking estrogen may have had delayed diagnoses. The authors also said that lower rates of prostate cancer may have been due to less PSA screening, misinterpretation of PSA levels in patients on gender-affirming hormone therapies, stigma, lack of awareness of prostate cancer risk and the effects of estrogen.
...said co-senior author Matthew R. Cooperberg, MD, MPH, of the UCSF Department of Urology. "This study should be a reminder to clinicians and patients alike that, regardless of gender, people with prostates are at risk for prostate cancer."
Karen_A:
I would need to read the actual scientific paper, but the story is missing a very important parameter...
First the way the article is written it is not 100% clear that all the 155 cases were posts-ops. If not that would make the data uninterpretable...
But assuming they are post-op, what matters is age at teh start of HRT and age at SRS... Testosterone plays a significant part in prostate cancer...
Prostate cancer is slow growing and depending on age, it could have started before HRT or SRS... That is is why age at start of HRT and/or SRS matters in drawing any conclusions from such data.
The actually JAMMA article may consider that, but it's not in the linked article so it's hard to know what sort of creedence to give the data.
-Karen
Karen_A:
I found the abstract for the paper (Well actually was not a full paper - just a "Research Letter"). The criteria for inclusion was:
"VA records for all adults with an International Classification of Diseases code for prostate cancer and at least 1 code for transgender identity at any time from January 2000 to November 2022 were queried."
Which is why they included those never on estrogen...
I would take the reported numbers with a HUGE grain of salt!
-Karen
Devlyn:
The big takeaway is this:
--- Quote ---"This study should be a reminder to clinicians and patients alike that, regardless of gender, people with prostates are at risk for prostate cancer."
--- End quote ---
If you have an organ, get it tested. If you don't have an organ, don't pretend you do have it and waste everyone's time scheduling tests for it.
Northern Star Girl:
@Devlyn
Exactly correct!!!
The same can apply to trans-women getting Mammograms ....
...and even males that are not on HRT and not transitioning should have
a Mammogram if they notice any irregularities in their breasts.
Men can develop Breast Cancer too!
Danielle
--- Quote from: Devlyn on June 08, 2023, 08:43:41 am ---The big takeaway is this:
--- Quote ---"This study should be a reminder to clinicians and patients alike that, regardless of gender, people with prostates are at risk for prostate cancer."
--- End quote ---
If you have an organ, get it tested. If you don't have an organ, don't pretend you do have it and waste everyone's time scheduling tests for it.
--- End quote ---
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