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Obesity increases the risk of prostate cancer, leads to worse outcomes

Category: Prostate

Obesity may be connected to rising PSA test results and an increased risk for developing prostate cancer, according to a new study from Duke University researchers.

The findings help to confirm the link between obesity and chronic disease. Extra body weight has been linked to everything from diabetes to heart disease. The new evidence adds to a growing body of indicators suggesting that it may also increase the risk of cancer.

For the study, researchers reviewed the findings of a number of previous investigations involving the study of either obesity or prostate cancer. They found that there was a strong association between the two conditions in all of the literature they reviewed.

Obesity correlated with worse treatment outcomes for a number of reasons. Technical challenges made surgery more difficult, and the team also uncovered evidence suggesting that tumor growth is more aggressive in obese men.

"The relationship between obesity and genitourinary malignancy is impressive," the researchers wrote in their report.

They suggested that further investigations be made to help determine the mechanism through which obesity increases prostate cancer risk.