Risk of Second Primary Cancer among Prostate Cancer Patients in Korea: A Population-Based Cohort Study

As patients with prostate cancer have a long life expectancy, there is increasing interest in predicting the risk of development of a second primary cancer (SPC), and we therefore designed this study to estimate the overall risk of developing SPCs among Korean prostate cancer patients. We used a population-based cohort from the Korean Central Cancer Registry composed of 55,378 men diagnosed with a first primary prostate cancer between 1993 and 2011. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of SPCs were analyzed by age at diagnosis, latency period, period of diagnosis, and type of initial treatment. Survival analysis was stratified by development of SPC. Men with primary prostate cancer had an overall lower risk of developing an SPC [SIR = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.72 - 0.78], which was significant for SPCs of the esophagus, stomach, rectum, liver, gallbladder, bile duct, pancreas, larynx, lung, and bronchus. In contrast, there were significant increases in the risk of bladder and thyroid cancers, which tended to decrease after longer follow-up. Patients who received initial radiation therapy had an increased risk of subsequent rectal cancer, although this was still lower than that of the general male population. Other urinary tract cancers including those of the kidney, renal pelvis, and ureter tended to be associated with a higher risk of developing an SPC, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. The patients with prostate cancer and SPC had lower overall survival rates than those with one primary prostate cancer. Our findings suggest that men with prostate cancer have a 25% lower risk of developing an SPC in Korea, but a higher risk of developing subsequent bladder and thyroid cancers, which suggests the need for continued cancer surveillance among prostate cancer survivors.