Prostate cancer patients can benefit from 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor treatment: a meta-analysis

Background The efficacy and safety of 5α-reductase inhibitors (5ARIs) in treating prostate cancer (PCa) have not been fully determined. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of 5ARIs for PCa patients. Methods A comprehensive literature search of online databases was conducted to obtain comparative studies exploring the effectiveness and safety of 5ARIs in treating PCa up to October 2019. Summarized odds ratio s (OR s) or hazard ratio s (HR s) were calculated to compare the outcomes between 5ARI and control groups. Our meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO under number CRD42018109809. Results A total of 2,277 patients from 10 studies were included. No significant difference was found in prostate-specific antigen progression between two groups (OR = 0.82, 95% CI [0.52-1.29], P = 0.40). However, 5ARI treatment significantly reduced the total progression of PCa (OR = 0.61, 95% CI [0.48-0.77], P < 0.0001), especially for patients with local (OR = 0.56, 95% CI [0.44-0.73], P < 0.00001) and low-Gleason score (≤7) PCa (OR = 0.63, 95% CI [0.48-0.84], P = 0.002). Additionally, 5ARIs also significantly prolonged the progression-free survival time (HR = 0.57, 95% CI [0.34-0.96], P = 0.04) for PCa patients. No significant difference was found in the occurrence of PCa recurrence, metastasis, biopsy reclassification, and side-effects between two groups. Conclusions Our study suggests that 5ARI treatment can benefit patients with local and low Gleason score (≤7) PCa, especially in delaying the disease progression. More studies with larger sample size and comprehensive study design are still needed to verify our outcomes.