Influence of androgen deprivation therapy on the severity of COVID‐19 in prostate cancer patients

• Published in: The Prostate Vol. 81; no. 16; pp. 1349 - 1354
• Main Authors: Jiménez‐Alcaide, Estíbaliz, García‐Fuentes, Clara, Hernández, Virginia, De la Peña, Enrique, Pérez‐Fernández, Elia, Castro, Alejandro, Caballero‐Perea, Begoña, Guijarro, Ana, Llorente, Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.12.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: androgen deprivation therapy; Androgen receptors; Androgens; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Death; Interferon; Intubation; Multivariate analysis; Original; Patients; Prostate cancer; prostatic neoplasms; SARS‐CoV‐2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 0270-4137; 1097-0045
• DOI: 10.1002/pros.24232

Background The TMPRSS2 protein has been involved in severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). The production is regulated by the androgen receptor (AR). It is speculated that androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) may protect patients affected by prostate cancer (PC) from SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Methods This is a retrospective study of patients treated for COVID‐19 in our institution who had a previous diagnosis of PC. We analyzed the influence of exposure of ADT on the presence of severe course of COVID‐19. Results A total of 2280 patients were treated in our center for COVID‐19 with a worse course of disease in males (higher rates of hospitalization, intense care unit [ICU] admission, and death). Out of 1349 subjects registered in our PC database, 156 were on ADT and 1193 were not. Out of those, 61 (4.52%) PC patients suffered from COVID‐19, 11 (18.0%) belonged to the ADT group, and 50 (82.0%) to the non‐ADT group. Regarding the influence of ADT on the course of the disease, statistically significant differences were found neither in the death rate (27.3% vs. 34%; p = 0.481), nor in the presence of severe COVID‐19: need for intubation or ICU admission (0% vs. 6.3%; p = 0.561) and need for corticoid treatment, interferon beta, or tocilizumab (60% vs. 34.7%; p = 0.128). Multivariate analysis adjusted for clinically relevant comorbidities did not find that ADT was a protective factor for worse clinical evolution (risk ratio [RR] 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64–1.83; p = 0.77) or death (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.26–1.74; p = 0.41). Conclusions Our study confirms that COVID‐19 is more severe in men. However, the use of ADT in patients with PC was not shown to prevent the risk of severe COVID‐19.