Increasing fitness level linked to lower risk

• Better cardiorespiratory health may lower the risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a new Swedish study.
• While many men develop prostate cancer, few die from it, and the study does not make a connection between cardiorespiratory health and prostate cancer deaths.
• A connection between cardiorespiratory fitness and prostate diagnosis is most likely due to being in better overall health, say experts.

A new study of Swedish men has found a strong link between cardiorespiratory health and a lower risk of developing prostate cancer.

The study finds that as little as a 3% improvement in cardiorespiratory health can result in a reduction in prostate cancer risk by 35%.

With its focus on the risk of developing the common male cancer, the study does not make any assertions regarding cardiorespiratory fitness and the chances of dying from prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is very common among men, particularly men aged 65 and older. One in eight men eventually develop the disease, and it is the second leading cause of death in men, behind lung cancer. About one in 44 men will die of prostate cancer.

However, the cancer is often very slow-growing, and most men who receive a prostate cancer diagnosis do not die of the disease.

There is robust debate whether the best course of action upon diagnosis is surgical prostate removal (prostatectomy), radiation therapy, or doing nothing at all apart from keep in an eye on it.

Doctors track the presence of prostate cancer and receive an indication of its severity through blood work, including a prostate antigen test (PSA).

The results of the study appear in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.