Obesity raises risk of deadly prostate cancer, study shows

A new study from the UK has revealed that obese men have a higher risk of death. prostate cancer. According to research data published in the scientific journal BMC Medicine, a five-point increase in body mass index increases the risk of death by 10%.

However, there is still no clear reason for the observed correlation between the two problems. This type of tumor is one of the most common. However, it usually takes years to grow and allows the patient to live with the disease for many years.

Because of the prevalence of prostate cancer, researchers around the world are trying to identify factors that can cause clinical conditions to worsen.

The study was based on a meta-analysis of data from 2.5 million men collected on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. Also added information from 200,000 UK Biobank contributors.

Obesity as a risk factor

All participants were followed for years and provided measurements of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and body fat percentage.

Researchers selected those who had developed prostate cancer over the years and found that those with the most body fat were more likely to die.

Researchers reveal that every 10 cm waist in an obese patient increases the risk of death by 7%. In addition, fat percentage, BMI, adiposity and waist-hip ratio also affected the occurrence of deaths.

“Knowing more about the factors that increase the risk of prostate cancer is crucial to preventing it,” says Aurora Perez-Cornago, head of research and researchers at the University of Oxford.

“Age, family history, and ethnicity are known risk factors, but they cannot be changed, so it is important to find risk factors that can be modified.”

ARTICLE BMC Medicine: doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02336-x