CARDIOVASCULAR AND ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN PROSTATIC-CANCER PATIENTS TREATED WITH ESTROGENS OR ORCHIECTOMY AS COMPARED TO THE STANDARD POPULATION

Four hundred and seventy-seven prospectively randomized patients with prostatic carcinoma were treated with a combination of intramuscular polyestradiol phosphate (PEP) and oral ethinyl estradiol, with intramuscular PEP alone, or with orchiectomy. The cardiovascular and all-cause mortality of the two estrogen therapy modalities and orchiectomy were compared with those of the Finnish male population in general. The age-standardized rate ratios (approximately relative risk) for cardiovascular mortality and for all-cause mortality were 1.51 and 2.31 in the combination estrogen therapy group, 0.17 and 1.50 in the PEP monotherapy group, and 0.78 and 1.78 in the orchiectomy group, respectively. Further mortality rates by cause for all three treatment groups were standardized for age using the age-specific person-years at risk as standard. Age-standardized mortality from cardiovascular diseases was very low in the PEP group, as compared to other treatment modalities, and the mortality rates for prostatic cancer were about equal in all three treatment groups. It is concluded that intramuscular PEP monotherapy is associated with low cardiovascular mortality and with an all-cause and prostatic cancer mortality equal to orchiectomy.