Friday, August 16, 2013

Exercise and Prostate Cancer

University Prostate Center and the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina evaluated 190 men who underwent biopsies for possible prostate cancer. When they looked at the results, and accounted for factors such as age, weight, race, body mass index, PSA, and several others, they found that those who exercised the equivalent of three to six hours of walking per week were less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. More specifically, compared with their more sedentary peers, these men were two-thirds less likely to have a biopsy positive for prostate cancer. In addition, men who exercised the equivalent of only one to three hours of walking each week had an 86 percent lower risk of having an aggressive form of the cancer.

One of the latest studies conducted an 18-year study in which they evaluated 2,705 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. They found that men who were involved in three or more hours of vigorous exercise had a 61 percent lower risk of prostate cancer-specific death when compared with men who exercised less than one hour each week.  Among men who walked at a normal to brisk pace for more than 90 minutes each week had a 46 percent lower risk of dying from any cause when compared to men who did not walk as much.

Exercise is beneficial not only for helping to prevent prostate cancer, but also for improving quality of life following prostatectomy. In a recent Canadian study, 60 men who were scheduled for radical prostatectomy were interviewed two weeks before and four weeks after surgery regarding their level of physical activity. The researchers found that men who had higher levels of physical activity during the year before their surgery had lesser declines in health-related quality of life both before and after surgery. This finding suggests that declines in health-related quality of life after radical prostatectomy may be reduced or avoided in men who participate in exercise before surgery.

Exercise also appears to help men who undergo external beam radiation for prostate cancer. In a study from the University of Dundee, experts evaluated radiation toxicity data for 65 men who were treated with radiation therapy over a four-week period. Thirty-three men were assigned to a control group and 32 participated in 30 minutes of walking at least three times per week during treatment. Among men who exercised, there was a significant difference in mean toxicity scores regarding rectal side effects when compared with controls, but there was no significant difference regarding bladder side effects. These findings suggest that men who exercise may experience less severe rectal side effects during radiation treatment for prostate cancer.

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