Metabolic syndrome does not raise a mans risk of developing prostate cancer overall, but does raise their risk of aggressive prostate cancer, according to a report presented at the 27th Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology.

Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that increases the risk of getting heart disease or diabetes.

Researchers from Vall D’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona Spain, examined 2,408 men who had a prostate biopsy for a high PSA count, an abnormal digital rectal examination, or both. Of the male participants 1,480 — 61.5 percent — had metabolic syndrome and 928 didn’t. About 34 percent of the men diagnosed with prostate cancer had metabolic syndrome, 36.4 who who were also diagnosed with prostate cancer didn’t.

Of the prostate cancer patients with metabolic syndrome, 35.9 percent of them also had high-grade diseases, and 23.9 percent who didn’t have metabolic syndrome had similar high-grade diseases, which equates to a 75 percent increased risk for high-grade prostate cancer, associated with metabolic syndrome in multivariate analysis.

These findings were previously confirmed by Italian researchers, as they studied 195 men who underwent a prostate biopsy. Similarly, metabolic syndrome was found not to increase the risk of prostate cancer, but was linked to a 3.8 times increased chance of developing high-grade prostate cancer.

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