A new study published in the July 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that widely used hormone-blocking drugs do not improve survival in older men with early prostate cancer that has not spread.

The hormonal drugs are used to suppress the testosterone that feeds prostate cancers and are usually given to the elderly although there is no scientific evidence that they really help.

The hormone-blocking drugs have as most obvious side effect sexual dysfunction. However, the therapy has been recently linked to greater risks such as diabetes, bone fractures, heart disease, reduced muscle mass, weight gain, hot flashes and decrease in mental acuity.

Dr. Grace L. Lu-Yao, PhD, MPH, of the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey and colleagues analyzed the medical records of 19,271 men with a median age of 77 who were diagnosed with early prostate cancer from 1992 to 2002 and were monitored through 2002. None of the men underwent surgery or radiation treatment for their condition.

About 40 percent of the participants had received hormone therapy for an average of 18 month; the rest opted for watchful waiting.

The analysis found that nearly 20 percent of those on hormone therapy died of prostate cancer within 10 years, compared with only 17.4 of those in the other group.

“Use of hormone therapy does not improve survival. The reason patients want this is they want something that will improve their quality of life or their survival. But hormone therapy has a detrimental effect on quality of life. And we cannot find any survival benefit for these men in their 70s with very early-stage cancer,” Dr. Lu-Yao told WebMD.

She further said that it’s no use exposing the elderly to such therapy, which has too many side effects that might even worsen their lives.

Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer embraced the findings saying they would make doctors think twice before giving patients hormonal treatment. About a quarter of older men with prostate cancer currently receive hormone therapy.