Widely-used hormone drug associated with increased risk of benign brain tumour at high doses

Press release issued: 4 February 2022

High doses of a widely-used drug used in the hormonal treatment of conditions such as excessive hair growth, early puberty, prostate cancer are linked to an increased risk of meningioma — the most common type of benign brain tumour, finds a University of Bristol-led study of over 8 million patients. The study is published in Scientific Reports today [4 February].

High doses of cyproterone acetate (> 50 mg/day) is usually prescribed to male patients with inoperable prostate cancer, a condition which leads to excessive hair growth known as hirsutism, or male-to-female transsexual hormonal therapy. Lower doses (2-10 mg/day) of the drug are typically used in combination with oestradiol to treat androgen-associated alopecia or female seborrhoea.

A systemic review and meta-analysis of over 8 million patients found a significant association between high dose usage and increased risk of meningioma. However, this association was not found with low doses.

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Paper: 'A systematic review and meta‑analysis of the association between cyproterone acetate and intracranial meningiomas' by KS Lee et al. in Scientific Reports