Obese Men More Likely to Have Cancer Recurrence After Prostatectomy

Biochemical recurrence was defined as two consecutive PSA measurements of at least 0.2 ng/mL after the patient’s radical prostatectomy.

The authors of the study used a long-term follow-up and analyzed several data points for 1,100 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at a single hospital in Pittsburgh between 2003 and 2013. Of these patients, 34% were obese and 19% had metabolic syndrome, as determined by a patient having at least three of the following factors: insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol or low HDL levels, high triglycerides, and hypertension.

The patients were divided into groups of low-, intermediate-, or high-risk prostate cancer based on pathological staging and grading. They found a higher percentage of obese patients in the high-risk group (41.2% of obese patients) than in the low- or intermediate- risk groups. In addition, biochemical recurrence was higher in patients with a BMI of at least 30, with 32% of patients in this group having recurrence compared to only 16.9% of patients with a BMI less than 30. Patients with metabolic syndrome had a higher than 4-fold increased risk of biochemical recurrence when compared to patients who did not have the syndrome.

The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Obesity and Cancer Conference in January.

“Our study indicates that prostate cancer patients
who are obese or have metabolic syndrome undergoing
radical prostatectomy may have a higher chance
for recurrence of the disease, and these individuals
should have more focused follow-up care.”- Study author Arash Samiei, M.D., Basic scientist and clinical researcher at the Department of Urology at the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh