High-Grade Prostate Cancer Linked to Metabolic Syndrome
PARIS—Metabolic syndrome does not increase men's risk of prostate cancer (PCa) overall, but it does increase their risk of aggressive PCa, researchers reported at the 27th Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology.
Investigators at Vall D'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, studied 2,408 men who underwent prostate biopsy for an elevated PSA, an abnormal digital rectal examination, or both. Of these men, 1,480 (61.5%) had metabolic syndrome and 928 did not. Prostate cancer was diagnosed in 34.5% of men with metabolic syndrome and 36.4% of those without it, a nonsignificant difference between the groups. Among the patients with PCa, high-grade disease was found in 35.9% of those with metabolic syndrome compared with 23.9% of men without it, a significant difference that translated into a 75% increased risk for high-grade PCa associated with metabolic syndrome in multivariate analysis.
At last year's EAU congress, Italian investigators reported similar findings from a study of 195 men undergoing prostate biopsy. In that study, metabolic syndrome did not increase the risk of PCa overall but it was associated with a 3.8 times increased risk of high-grade PCa.
