ELEVATED CHOLESTEROL , TRIGLYCERIDES MAY INCREASE RISK FOR PROSTATE CANCER
Higher levels of total
cholesterol and triglycerides, two types of fat, in the blood of men who
underwent surgery for prostate cancer, were associated with increased risk for
disease recurrence, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"While
laboratory studies support an important role for cholesterol in prostate
cancer, population-based evidence linking cholesterol and prostate cancer is
mixed," said Emma Allott, PhD, postdoctoral associate at Duke University
School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. "Understanding associations
between obesity, cholesterol, and prostate cancer is important given that
cholesterol levels are readily modifiable with diet and/or statin use, and
could therefore have important, practical implications for prostate cancer
prevention and treatment.
"Our findings
suggest that normalization, or even partial normalization, of serum lipid
levels among men with dyslipidemia [abnormal lipid profile] may reduce the risk
of prostate cancer recurrence," said Allott.
Allott, Stephen
Freedland, MD, associate professor of surgery at Duke University School of
Medicine, and colleagues, analyzed data from 843 men who underwent radical
prostatectomy after a prostate cancer diagnosis and who never took statins
before surgery. They found that those who had serum triglyceride levels of 150
mg/dL or higher had a 35 percent increased risk for prostate cancer recurrence,
when compared with patients who had normal levels of triglycerides. Among those
with abnormal blood lipid profile, for every 10 mg/dL increase in total serum
cholesterol above 200 mg/dL, there was a 9 percent increased risk for prostate
cancer recurrence.
For every 10 mg/dL
increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL; known as "good"
cholesterol) among men with abnormal HDL (below the desirable value of 40
mg/dL), the risk for prostate cancer recurrence was lowered by 39 percent.
"Given that 45
percent of deaths worldwide can be attributed to cardiovascular disease and
cancer, with prostate cancer being the second most common cause of male cancer
deaths in the United States, understanding the role of dyslipidemia as a shared,
modifiable risk factor for both of these common causes of mortality is of great
importance," she added.
Study subjects were
identified from the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital (SEARCH)
database and treated at one of the six Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in
California, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Of the 843 men
studied, 343 were black, 325 had abnormal cholesterol levels, 263 had abnormal
triglyceride levels, and 293 had a biochemical recurrence, defined as rising
PSA levels after prostate cancer treatment, indicating the recurrence of the
patient's prostate cancer.
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