Chlamydial antibodies and risk of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE

We assessed the risk of prostate cancer by exposure to Chlamydia trachomatis.

METHOD: Seven hundred thirty eight cases of prostate cancer and 2,271 matched controls were identified from three serum sample banks in Finland, Norway, and Sweden by linkage to the population based cancer registries.

RESULTS

A statistically significant inverse association (odds ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.51-0.94) was found. It was consistent by different serotypes and there was a consistent dose-response relationship.

CONCLUSION

C. trachomatis infection is not likely to increase the risk of prostate cancer. Whether the inverse relationship is true or due to difficulties in measuring the true exposure in prostatic tissue by serology, confounders or other sources of error remain open.