On Monday, researchers reported that a common prostate cancer treatment may double the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The treatment named androgen deprivation therapy aims at lowering levels of testosterone, the ‘male’ hormone that stimulates some kinds of prostate cancer.

The study used medical records of men, and failed to prove that the treatment resulted into Alzheimer's disease among the men. However, the study findings have enough to prompt oncologists to take a deeper look.

The American Cancer Society's Dr. Otis Brawley said that the study hasn’t certainly told them that these drugs cause Alzheimer's disease but mentioned that the study has justified a better study.

The study was conducted on over 16,000 men being treated for prostate cancer, and suggested that the ones who received any type of androgen deprivation therapy had roughly double risk of developing Alzheimer's in the coming two and a half years as compared to men getting other treatments.

Dr. Kevin Nead of the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues at Stanford University wrote in their study that they have noticed a statistically notable increased risk of Alzheimer's disease with rising duration of ADT (androgen deprivation therapy). The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Kevin Nead said, “We also observed a statistically significant increased risk of Alzheimer's disease with increasing duration of ADT (androgen deprivation therapy)”. The one who received treatment for over a year showed more than double the risk of an Alzheimer's diagnosis.