In a recent study, British researchers established a link between being overweight and the likelihood of dying from prostate cancer.
- Prostate cancer accounts for nearly 26% of all male cancers. It occurs in about 66% of cases in men aged 65 and over.
- If men’s average BMI were five points lower, there would be around 1,300 fewer deaths from prostate cancer per year in the UK.
“The association of adiposity (excess fat in the body) with prostate cancer-specific mortality remains unclear,” said scientists from the University of Oxford in England (UK). This is why they decided to carry out work to examine the link between overweight and the risk of death caused by this most common malignancy in men.
For the purposes of their study, recently published in the journal BMC Medicine, the researchers analyzed data from 218,237 men collected by the UK Biobank. All cohorts included in the meta-analysis were prospective, which means that participants who did not have prostate cancer at the start of the studies were followed for several years and the number of deaths caused by this tumor during this period was recorded. Adiposity was assessed at the start of the research using body mass index (BMI), percentage of total body fat, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio.
The risk of dying from prostate cancer is higher in overweight men
According to the data, 661 men died of prostate cancer during a follow-up of approximately 11 years. The authors found that a higher amount of body fat was linked to a higher likelihood of dying from prostate cancer. According to the results, each five-point increase in BMI increased the risk of death from prostate cancer by 10%, while a 5% increase in the percentage of total body fat increased the risk by 3%. Each 0.05% increase in the waist-to-hip ratio increased the probability of dying from prostate cancer by 6%. And every 10 cm increase in waist circumference increased the risk of death by 7%.
“We found that men with higher total body fat have a higher risk of dying from prostate cancer than men with a healthy weight,” the scientists said. For now, the authors are unable to explain why overweight people die more from prostate cancer. But they speculated. According to them, biological factors may be involved. It would also be likely that differences in detection also play a role in this association. Clearly, it is possible that the disease is more difficult to detect in obese men. Thus, it is diagnosed later and is more difficult to treat.