Niagara Falls, Ontario—Previous studies have shown an association between metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer. A study presented at the 2013 Canadian Urological Association annual meeting during a poster presentation investigated the level of prostate cancer risk in relation to the number of risk factors of metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer grade.
The results suggest that the risk for prostate cancer increases in stepwise fashion with each additional metabolic syndrome risk factor. A stepwise increase in the risk of clinically significant prostate cancer or high-grade prostate cancer was associated with 1, 2, and then ≥3 risk factors. Only ≥3 risk factors reached statistical significance, however.
Lead investigator Neil E. Fleshner, MD, MPH, Head, Division of Urology, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, and colleagues, focused on men whose biopsy samples are included in the Genito-Urinary BioBank at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.
The researchers did not include men on active surveillance. A total of 2144 patients were included in the analysis, and 1301 (60.7%) of them were diagnosed at biopsy with prostate cancer. Among the men with prostate cancer, 593 had a Gleason score of ≥7.
The odds ratio for developing clinically significant or high-grade prostate cancer was calculated for 5 components of metabolic syndrome—elevated fasting glucose concentration or diabetes, obesity, elevated levels of triglycerides, low concentration of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and hypertension. None of the odds ratios were statistically significant.
The risk for developing prostate cancer was 38% higher with ≥3 risk factors for metabolic syndrome than with none; the risk was 52% higher for clinically significant prostate cancer, and 43% higher for high-grade prostate cancer. Furthermore, there was a stepwise, but not significant, increase in prostate cancer risk between having no metabolic syndrome risk factors and 1 risk factor, and between zero or 1 risk factor and 2 risk factors.
