The study, “Real-World Effectiveness and Cardiovascular Safety of Abiraterone versus Enzalutamide Amongst Older Patients Diagnosed with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer,” which was published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, includes authors from the University of Illinois Cancer Center and others from the Retzky College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).
Cancer Center members who are study authors are the corresponding author, Charles E. Gaber, PhD, MPH, a pharmacoepidemiologist and Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, in the College of Pharmacy, and Natalie Reizine, MD, a researcher and UI Health oncologist who specializes in treating genitourinary cancers, including prostate cancer. UI Health is UIC’s academic health enterprise and it includes the Cancer Center.
The observational study compared three-year overall survival and one-year risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) between initiators of abiraterone or enzalutamide using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database.
“The three-year survival of abiraterone initiators was slightly lower than that of enzalutamide initiators, though the agents showed similar survival for patients with robust fitness. A one-year increase in MACE risk was observed in abiraterone initiators, especially amongst frail individuals, highlighting the importance of assessing frailty during therapy selection,” according to the discussion section of the study’s abstract.