Obese Men at Greater Prostate-Cancer Risk

Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than double the risk of dying from the disease compared with men of normal weight, says a U.S. study.

I was very surprised by the findings, senior author Dr. Alan Kristal, head of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Hutchinson Center in Seattle, said in a statement.

The connection remained regardless of treatment, disease grade or disease stage at the time of diagnosis.

If a man is obese at the time of diagnosis, he faces a 2.6-fold greater risk of dying as compared to a normal-weight man with the same diagnostic profile, according to the study published in the journal Cancer.

The link between obesity and prostate cancer metastasis and death are believed to involve both steroid hormones and inflammation, according to Kristal.