Obesity = Increased Risk of Death From Prostate Cancer

Obesity (higher body mass index or BMI and weight gain) increases the risk of death from prostate cancer but no association was found between BMI or weight gain and the development of cancer.

• The researchers found that higher BMI and weight gain since the age of 18 were associated with significantly higher risk of death from prostate cancer. As BMI increased, so did the relative risk of death.
• Men who were overweight (BMI 25-29.9) had a 25 percent higher risk, mildly obese men (BMI 30-34.9) had a 46 percent higher risk, and severely obese men (BMI greater than 35) had a 100 percent, or doubled risk. Similarly, men who gained weight since the age of 18 were also at increased risk of a fatal outcome.

Such were the findings of the first large study to identify increasing weight after age 18 as an independent, poor prognostic factor for prostate cancer, published in the February 15, 2007 print issue of CANCER (journal of the American Cancer Society) and online January 15, 2007.

BMI greater than 30 is considered obese and which comprises 30% of American adults today.

The said study was led by Margaret E. Wright, Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD.

Find more details from the press release.