Objective: To estimate the survival of men with familial prostate cancer and compare them with prostate cancer cases unselected for family history.
Patients and methods: The overall and prostate cancer-specific survival was calculated in two large (249 and 304 men, respectively) population-based cohorts of men with familial prostate cancer. The tumour grade at diagnosis was also obtained in one of the cohorts.
Results: There were no significant differences in either overall or prostate cancer-specific survival between familial and sporadic cases. The spectrum of tumour grades at diagnosis in familial cases did not differ from that in a population with prostate cancer unselected for family history.
Conclusion: No differences in treatment between men with or without a positive family history of prostate cancer are justified, based on the result from this study.