Christel Häggström, from the Umeå University Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues examined the correlation between metabolic factors and the risk of prostate cancer and death from prostate cancer using data for 289,866 men in the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project. The separate and combined effects of metabolic factors were assessed.

During a mean follow-up of 12 years, the researchers identified 6,673 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 961 prostate cancer deaths. There was a non-statistically significant decrease in the risk of prostate cancer observed for men with high levels of glucose (relative risk [RR], 0.82; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.62 to 1.08) and triglycerides (RR, 0.88; 95 percent CI, 0.74 to 1.04) for the top versus the bottom quintile. There was a significantly increased risk of death from prostate cancer seen with high body mass index (top versus bottom quintile RR, 1.36), elevated systolic blood pressure (RR, 1.62), and a high composite z score (per one-unit increase RR, 1.13).

"In conclusion, high levels of body mass index, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, and a combination of these factors were not found to be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer," the authors write. "In contrast, high levels of body mass index, blood pressure, and a combination of metabolic factors were associated with a modest increase in the risk of prostate cancer death."

Abstract
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