An analysis of data on roughly 87,500 men treated for prostate cancer since 2005 finds a notable increase in higher-risk cases of the disease between 2011 and 2013.

The retrospective analysis of patient data found the proportion of men diagnosed with intermediate- and high-risk disease increased by nearly 6 percent in those years.

While a rise in mortality has not yet been seen, the authors estimate this apparent trend could produce 1,400 additional prostate cancer deaths per year (based on the 2014 estimated number of new prostate cancer cases and the relative survival of patients with low- versus high-risk cancer).

They emphasise, however, that the findings must be confirmed through further research.

The study was presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in Orlando.

In this study, researchers analysed data on 87,562 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between January 2005 and June 2013.

Patient data were collected from the National Oncology Data Alliance (NODA, a registered trademark of Elekta Medical Systems), a proprietary database that captures cancer cases at more than 150 US hospitals.

This database was selected because it included 2011 to 2013 data that were not available in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database at the time of this analysis.

However, the authors note that the data submitted to NODA are the same as the data submitted to state tumour registries and ultimately to SEER.

Blood PSA level greater than 10 signifies intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer, irrespective of tumour stage and grade.

From 2005 to 2011, the proportion of men with prostate cancer and PSA greater than 10 decreased gradually.

Between 2011 and 2013, however, the proportion of men diagnosed with intermediate- or high-risk cancer, based on blood PSA level, increased by 3 percent per year.

Source: Genitourinary Cancers Symposium