(HealthDay News) — For men with prostate cancer, body mass index (BMI) at diagnosis is associated with mortality, according to a study published online Aug. 6 in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice.
Related: Male Reproductive Cancers Resource Center
Reina Haque, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and colleagues conducted a population-based case-control study involving 751 men with prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy to examine the correlation between BMI at diagnosis and prostate cancer mortality. The cohort included 323 cases who died from prostate cancer and 428 matched controls.
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The researchers found that more cases than controls were obese (≥30 kg/m²: 30% versus 22%). Compared with men with healthy BMI, obese men had a significant increase in prostate cancer mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 1.50). The odds of mortality generally increased with increasing BMI, after stratification by Gleason score. The strongest effect was seen for men in the Gleason score 8+ category (odds ratio, 2.37). The correlations persisted even after adjustment for tumor characteristics and prostate-specific antigen at diagnosis.
“In conclusion, results for this study suggest that obese men are more likely to die from prostate cancer when compared to non-obese men and this association is strongest among men with higher Gleason scores,” the authors write.
