Lower PSA Values Found In Overweight And Obese Men, Even Before Diagnosis Of Prostate Cancer

“Men who are overweight or obese have lower concentrations of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in their blood than their normal-weight counterparts, according to a new study led by Duke University Medical Center researchers. The finding echoes earlier results on PSA concentrations found in obese and overweight men with prostate cancer and highlights thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif need to reconsider PSA threshold values for heavier patients, and to encourage those patients to get serious about losing weight. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has doubled in the past 15 years," Price said. ‘Our study demonstrates yet another health danger that obesity poses. One in three Americans is obese, and a man who is 5'11" and weighs 215 pounds is considered obese. The best advice clinicians can give their patients is to adopt healthier lifestyles, said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist at Duke and the study's senior author. ‘We tell patients to exercise three or four times a week, eat a healthier diet, high in vegetables and fruits, and keep getting screened,’ he said. However, to compensate for the lower PSA values, Freedland also recommends lowering the PSA threshold that is considered abnormal for obese men. ‘If we don't do that, we may be missing cancers in obese men, which could lead to delayed diagnosis and poorer outcomes."