Metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a common form of cancer in men and the incidence increases with age. It is known to develop slowly but may also take an aggressive course. No conclusions have been made on the cause of prostate cancer and there is no diagnostic factor that can be used for screening purposes. Studies indicate that metabolic syndrome is associated with prostate cancer. Metabolic syndrome components are hypertension, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance and obesity. A systematic literature search for studies on metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance and prostate cancer was performed using the OVID database manager searching the Medline and EMBASE databases. Seven studies were included, of which five were prospective cohorts and two were case-control studies. Most other studies were reviews. Four studies showed a positive association, one showed a negative association and one showed no association. One study, using two different analyses for metabolic syndrome, showed a positive association, or none, depending on the criteria used for defining metabolic syndrome. The results indicate that metabolic syndrome can be used to identify men at risk of prostate cancer. The definition of the metabolic syndrome must be taken into consideration.