Cheap pills for blood pressure may cut risk of prostate death

CHEAP blood pressure drugs taken by thousands of Britons could increase prostate cancer survival rates, research suggests.

A study of nearly 8,300 men with the disease found that certain medications cut the chance of an early death by up to 42 per cent.

However, other types of blood pressure drugs may actually increase the risk of mortality. The researchers said the findings are crucial because four fifths of men with prostate cancer are also on blood pressure medication. They warned that it was vital for doctors to prescribe pills that could extend lives, rather than potentially shorten them.

The researchers, from the University of Tampere in Finland, tracked 8,253 men with prostate cancer for more than seven years after diagnosis. Most of the patients, who had an average age of 68 at the start of the study, were also taking pills for high blood pressure.

Presenting their findings at the European Association of Urology Conference in Barcelona, scientists said they found survival rates varied significantly depending on the class of medication prescribed.

Those who were taking angiotensin II receptor blockers, known as ARBs – which include common pills such as Valsartan and Losartan – had the greatest effect. Men who had been taking the drugs before they were diagnosed with cancer had a 30 per cent lower chance of dying than those who were taking no blood pressure medication. Those who started taking them after diagnosis had a 42 per cent reduced risk. ARBs, which cost as little as 70p a day, have been used for blood pressure for more than 30 years and come with few side effects.

ACE- inhibitors – another common drug – also seemed to have a protective effect, with an 18 per cent lower death risk for patients who started taking them after diagnosis.

Other treatments, such as diuretics, seemed to increase the risk of mortality by up to 161 per cent. Professor Teemu Murtola said ARBs and similar treatments may slow the growth of prostate tumours.

Other medications may not actually increase the risk of death by themselves. Men on those drugs could be at greater risk because they have underlying heart problems which make them more vulnerable to cancer. ‘Up to 80 per cent of men in our study population had at least one prescription for antihypertensive drugs, demonstrating how common the usage is among men with prostate cancer,’ Professor Murtola said.

High blood pressure – or hypertension – affects more than 17million Britons.

The Mail is campaigning to end needless prostate deaths through better treatments and earlier diagnosis. Some 47,000 men are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year – and 11,600 die of it. Simon Grieveson, of Prostate Cancer UK, called the findings ‘interesting’.