Life Course of BMI and Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2020
According to findings from the Epidemiology Study of Prostate Cancer (EPICAP) survey presented in Cancer Medicine, body mass index (BMI) trajectories that resulted in individuals being overweight or obese during adulthood may be linked to an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer, particularly among those who never smoked. Florence Menegaux MD, PhD, of the Université Paris‐Saclay, France, and colleagues noted that these findings emphasize the importance of maintaining a healthy BMI through adulthood.
“The assessment of life course BMI may help identify men who are at increased risk of prostate cancer and may provide new prevention strategies,” the authors concluded.
The authors surveyed 781 men who were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012 and 2013 and 829 controls frequency matched by age. The participants were asked about their weight every decade from age 20 to 2 years before the reference date. The BMI trajectories were determined using group-based trajectory modeling to identify groups of men with similar patterns of BMI changes.
The authors identified five distinct trajectories. Among the men surveyed, 548 men (36.3%) maintained a “normal” BMI (< 25 kg/m2), 460 men (28.6%) had a normal BMI and then became overweight (BMI = 25–29.9 kg/m2), 381 men (23.6%) were overweight, 122 men (7.6%) had a normal BMI and then became obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), and 63 men (3.9%) progressed from overweight to obese.
The men with a normal BMI at age 20 who then became obese or overweight during adulthood were at an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer, the authors found, compared with men who maintained a normal BMI throughout adulthood. The authors did not find any association between overall prostate cancer and less aggressive prostate cancer for men in the overweight and obese trajectories.
Disclosure: The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
