More research is needed to support the use of finasteride to prevent prostate cancer.
A large prostate cancer prevention trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed that men over 55 years of age who took finasteride daily for up to 7 years had a 30% lower risk of prostate cancer compared to men who took a placebo.
But the decrease was more pronounced mainly for low-grade prostate cancer (which is less risky), while for high-grade prostate cancer, the incidence was even higher in the finasteride group than in the placebo group. However, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the two groups at 15 years of follow-up.
The study enrolled nearly 19,000 men, all of whom were free of prostate cancer at the time of enrollment.
Foreign experts believe that the effect of finasteride on prostate cancer mortality is not conclusive, but finasteride use does help reduce the overall risk of prostate cancer.