Risk of aggressive prostate cancer with successive generations in the U.S. among Latino men

Background US-born Latino men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) than foreign-born Latino men. It was not clear whether these increases were exclusively due to increased detection of PCa in the US, changes in risk factors of PCa, or a combination of both. Methods In the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) we evaluated the association between generational status and risk of PCa in 19,597 Latino men, adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES), as well as history of PSA screening. Additional adjustments on polygenic risk score (PRS) and genetic ancestry were included in the sensitivity analysis in the biorepository cohort with genetic data. Results This analysis included 10,241 1st-generation, 4,610 2nd-generation, and 4,746 3rd-generation Latino men, among whom 2,366 PCa were diagnosed during an average of 19.2 years of follow-up. After adjusting for covariates, we observed no association between generational status and risk of overall, localized, or low-grade PCa. A per generation increase was significantly associated with a 13% to 15% elevated risk of high-grade, advanced, or aggressive PCa. These associations with aggressive forms of PCa remained significant in the biorepository cohort with additional adjustment on PRS and genetic ancestry. Conclusions Successive generations in the US were associated with an increased risk of aggressive forms of PCa among Latino men and the observed increases cannot be explained by differences in genetic susceptibility, ancestry, PSA screening, lifestyle, and SES factors. Further investigations are needed to identify additional factors that contribute to this increased risk.