Prostate cancer risk raised in long-married men

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a study conducted in New Zealand suggest the risk of prostate cancer is increased among men who have been married for a long time, men who have married only once, and those who are still married when they're diagnosed.

The researchers note that it is not apparent that there is a biological reason for the association.

The study also found that men taller than 5'7" (1.7 meters) by age 20 also have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer later in life than shorter men.

Important features of prostate cancer are still poorly understood, Dr. Brian Cox and colleagues from the University of Otago, Dunedin, report in the International Journal of Cancer.

The researchers analyzed data from telephone interviews with 923 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and a comparison group of 1,224 similar men without prostate cancer. To be included in the study, subjects had to have been married at some time.

The results confirm previous reports that men with a close relative, such as a parent or brother, with prostate cancer have more than double the risk of developing the disease.

Weight was not associated with risk of prostate cancer. However, as mentioned, compared with men shorter than 5'7" at age 20, taller men had a 20 to 60 percent increased risk of prostate cancer. Other studies have also reported an association between prostate cancer and height, the researchers note.

"There were 1,556 men who had been married only once and who were still married at interview," Cox and colleagues explain. In this patient subgroup, increased length of marriage correlated with increased risk of prostate cancer -- a 2-percent increased risk for each year of marriage (with the effects of age factored in).

The team adds that this finding may have been due to chance or because factors were not recognized that may have skewed the results.

SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, October 2006.