Obesity Linked to Higher Risk of Prostate Cancer Progression

Further advancing the evidence for a causal relationship between obesity and prostate cancer, researchers at Duke University Medical Center report that among men with prostate cancer who are treated with hormone therapy to suppress tumor growth, those who are obese face an elevated risk of their prostate cancer worsening. To examine the role obesity may play in prostate cancer, Christopher J. Keto and colleagues identified 287 men whose diseased prostates had been removed at five U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs hospitals from 1988-2009. Because their cancers had reappeared, the men had also been given androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The chemical inhibits production of the male hormone testosterone, which fuels prostate tumors. Men in the study group who were overweight or obese had a three-fold increased risk of cancer progression compared to normal-weight men, despite receiving the same treatment. Additionally, overweight men had more than a three-fold increased risk of their cancer spreading to the bone compared to normal-weight men, while obese men had a five-fold increase in the risk of metastases. Writing that: “Among men treated with early [androgen deprivation therapy], obese men had increased risk of [castration resistant prostate cancer], metastases, and [prostate cancer specific mortality],” the researchers conclude that: “These data further support the hypothesis obesity is associated with aggressive [prostate cancer].”