Vinayak G. Wagaskar, MBBS, instructor of urology, Mount Sinai, discusses potential explanations for a paradoxical relationship between obesity and outcomes observed in prostate cancer.

Findings from a retrospective study, which were presented during the 2021 EAU Congress, demonstrated that patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with an elevated body mass index (BMI) had a higher survival probability vs overweight and normal weight patients.

Elevated BMI could be attributed to increased fat mass or lean muscle mass, says Wagaskar. Patients with a high BMI from lean muscle mass could have improved cardiac function, which could contribute to improved outcomes with prostate cancer, explains Wagaskar. The study presented during the 2021 EAU Congress did not specify whether patients’ elevated BMI was caused by fat or lean muscle mass, Wagaskar adds. 

Additionally, the patients analyzed likely experienced weight gain as an adverse effect associated with prior hormone therapy or chemotherapy, Wagaskar says. Obese patients were also younger, which could attribute to the improvement in outcomes observed, concludes Wagaskar.

Videos

Vinayak G. Wagaskar, MBBS, discusses potential explanations for a paradoxical relationship between obesity and outcomes observed in prostate cancer.  



Dr. Wagaskar on Potential Explanations for the Obesity Paradox in Prostate Cancer 

Vinayak G. Wagaskar, MBBS, instructor of urology, Mount Sinai, discusses the rationale to evaluate the relationship between obesity and outcomes in prostate cancer. 

Several studies have emerged suggesting that morbidly obese individuals with genitourinary malignancies with a high body mass index (BMI) have improved survival compared with patients with a lower BMI, says Wagaskar. This is known as the obesity paradox because the belief is that obese patients would have naturally worse outcomes vs non-obese patients, Wagaskar says. 

During the 2021 EAU Congress, findings from a retrospective study demonstrated that BMI is a significant predictor of overall survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Moreover, obese patients had a higher survival probability vs overweight and normal weight patients.

Vinayak G. Wagaskar, MBBS, discusses the rationale to evaluate the relationship between obesity paradigm and outcomes in prostate cancer.  



Vinayak G. Wagaskar, MBBS

Articles

Dr. Wagaskar on Potential Explanations for the Obesity Paradox in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Wagaskar on the Rationale to Evaluate the Obesity Paradox in Prostate Cancer