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Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, especially in those over the age of 65. If it is a pathology that is treated rather well in normal times, its mortality will be higher in overweight men.
This is the finding of a new British study, based on data from more than 2.5 million cases and published in the journal BMC Medicine May 5th. And the researchers are formal: the risk of dying from prostate cancer increases with overweight. And the more the patient has extra pounds, the higher the risk.
A large study
To arrive at these results, the scientists used data from 218,237 men by studying their body mass index (BMI) their percentage of total body fat, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, based on data from Biobank, a British organization that collects health data.
In addition, they also compiled already existing data on the subject, which enabled them to gather information on more than 2.5 million cases in total.
The higher the weight, the higher the risk of death.
The study was conducted for 11 years. Scientists have well studied the link between fat accumulation and disease-related mortality. For them: there is a much higher risk of dying from prostate cancer for an overweight man than a man of normal weight. And the risk increases in proportion to the number of extra pounds.
Some researchers had, for example, hypothesized that it is essentially abdominal fat – which tends to be excessive in men in this area, particularly in the case of overweight – which favors the appearance of a serious cancer of the prostate. But for the lead author of this study, Aurora Perez-Cornago, “no matter where the fat is, it doesn’t make much difference”.
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No explanation given by the authors
If the authors of this work put forward such a link, they are not able to explain exactly why overweight men die more from prostate cancer. Is it the fatty tissue that produces molecules favoring this type of cancer? Nothing is less sure.
According to the study, “men with higher adiposity at baseline were more likely to be older, to drink more than 20g of alcohol per day (equivalent to two drinks), to be physically inactive and to have high blood pressure and diabetes than men in the lower BMI and waist circumference quartiles“. The researchers put forward the hypothesis that these men must therefore be people who take less care of their health and who would subsequently be less able to consult quickly in the event of a problem. This would ultimately affect their vital prognosis.