Obesity may worsen prostate outcome

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Men who were obese had an increase in PSA levels which may signal recurrence in prostate cancer.
Researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have been looking at how weight gain or obesity at the time of diagnosis affects patients who have prostate cancer. This is the first study to show a relationship between obesity and prostate cancer. They looked at the records of 873 patients with locally confined prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy. Eighteen per cent of the patients were mildly obese and five per cent were moderately to severely obese.

After follow up of 96 months, 295 patients experienced rising prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, a possible sign of recurrence, and 127 had an actual recurrence. Rising PSA occurred at an average of 30 months among those of normal weight and at 26 months among those who were overweight or obese. The study cannot explain why obesity is linked to a potentially worse outcome in prostate cancer - or whether losing weight might help. But those prostate cancer patients who are carrying excess weight should, perhaps, be monitored more closely.

Source
Cancer 1st August 2006

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