Research: Obesity Heightens Prostate Cancer Recurrence
A new study in the journal Cancer claims obese men have an increased risk of cancer recurrence after undergoing treatment with radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer. Reuters reports:
The study, reported in the current online issue of the journal Cancer, involved 873 men who underwent radiation treatment as their only treatment for localized prostate cancer between 1988 and 2001.Obesity was determined by an elevated body mass index (BMI), a ratio of height to weight commonly used to determine if a person is overweight or underweight. The researchers found that 18 percent of the men were mildly obese and 5 percent were moderately to severely obese.
Obese patients were more likely to be a younger age at diagnosis, to have a more recent diagnosis, and to be African-American.
After an average follow-up period of 96 months, 295 men experienced biochemical failure and 127 had full disease recurrence with symptoms.
