Perhaps because of increased interaction with healthcare providers, overweight and obese men are more likely than their normal weight counterparts to be diagnosed with prostate cancer at a younger age and to have lower-risk disease.

However, among overweight and obese men, increasing body mass index (BMI) is directly related to the risk of advanced disease, Dr. Christopher J. Kane, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues note in The Journal of Urology.

The findings are based on analysis of data from nearly 3,000 men with Prostate cancer who had complete body mass index (BMI) information.

Standard BMI criteria were used to classify the subjects as normal, overweight, obese, or very obese.

Twenty-nine percent of men had a normal BMI, 51 percent were overweight, 16 percent were obese, and 5 percent were very obese. Compared with men with normal BMI, those who were overweight or obese were more likely to be young, have Diabetes and high blood pressure, and have a lower educational level, the researchers point out.

Men who were overweight also tended to have a lower prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, an indicator of disease progression, at diagnosis and an earlier disease stage. However, among men who were overweight or obese, increasing BMI raised the odds of having high-risk prostate cancer at diagnosis.

These results “suggest earlier diagnosis in overweight patients with resulting lower risk,” the authors conclude, but “at the same time imply that increasing obesity may actually increase Prostate cancer disease risk.”

SOURCE: The Journal of Urology, March 2005.