The impact of a family history of prostate cancer on the prognosis and features of the disease in Korea: results from a cross-sectional longitudinal pilot study

Purpose: Reports on the impact of a family history of prostate cancer among Asians are scarce. We evaluated whether a positive prostate cancer family history is associated with the prognosis and features of the disease. Methods: From January 2006 to December 2015, patients who received treatment for pathologically diagnosed prostate cancer were enrolled. Information on family history was obtained via self-administered questionnaires between January 2015 and December 2016. The overall survival rate for all patients and the rate of biochemical failure after radical prostatectomy were assessed according to the presence of family history. Results: Of 1266 patients (median age, 68.1 years; median prostate-specific antigen, 8.73 ng/mL; median follow-up, 40.0 months), 47 (3.8%) were identified as having a family history. Men with a family history had a younger age, higher proportion of cases diagnosed before 55 years of age, and lower stage than those without a family history. Family history was not a potential risk factor for overall survival. In an analysis of patients who underwent radical prostatectomy (median prostate-specific antigen, 7.40 ng/mL; median follow-up, 40.5 months), no differences in pathologic characteristics were found between patients with (n = 39, 93.5%) and without (n = 567, 6.4%) a family history. Family history was not predictive of biochemical failure. Conclusions: A family history of prostate cancer seemed to have no effect on prognosis and disease aggressiveness. However, this study proposed a rationale for performing earlier prostate-specific antigen testing in men with a family history of prostate cancer.