In a new study from San Raffaele University in Italy, researchers found obese patients with a form of advanced prostate cancer survive longer than overweight and normal-weight patients.
They followed more than 1500 patients over three years and found patients classed as obese—with a BMI over 30—had a 10% higher survival rate than thinner patients over 36 months.
Although obesity is usually linked to an increased risk of death from many cancers and some other chronic diseases, there is some evidence in a few cancers of a survival advantage for patients with a high body mass index.
This phenomenon is known as the ‘obesity paradox’.
In the study, the team wanted to test whether the ‘obesity paradox’ held true for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer—an advanced form of the disease that no longer responds to testosterone lowering treatments.
They looked at survival rates in 1,577 patients involved in three different clinical trials, with an average age of 69 and an average BMI of 28.
They found that BMI was a protective factor in both overall and cancer-specific survival, with a 4% higher overall survival probability and 29% cancer-specific survival probability.
Even when they adjusted for higher doses of chemotherapy given to larger patients, the team found the protective effect remained.
Over 36 months, around 30% of obese patients survived compared to 20% of overweight and normal-weight individuals.
The findings suggest that BMI could be used to predict survival in these patients.
The team says this obesity paradox has been seen in some other cancers, possibly due to the relationship between tissue fat and cancer genomes, and more research is needed in this area.
It’s also possible that improved survival may be due to the interaction of chemotherapy with other drugs.
Obese patients in this older age group tend to be taking medication for other conditions and we do not fully understand how these medicines interconnect.
Nevertheless, the team would not recommend weight gain to anyone with this or another disease. Obesity is a risk factor for many cancers and other diseases and patients should always aim for a healthy BMI of 18 to 24.
If you care about obesity, please read studies about the cause of eating behaviors that lead to obesity and findings of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease may spread from person to person.
For more information about obesity and your health, please see recent studies about orange juice may help reduce risks of obesity, diabetes and results showing that sugar could cause early death, but not due to obesity.
The study was presented at the European Association of Urology Congress. One author of the study is Nicola Fossati.
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