Dense bones can increase the risk of prostate cancer

Conducted by Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), this study was part of the National Institutes of Health. Prostate cancer is known to spread to the bones. This knowledge led Stacy Loeb, M.D., a resident in the Department of Urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to wonder if there was a connection between bone characteristics and prostate cancer growth and metastasis.

Loeb says, “We reasoned there may be some difference between men who develop prostate cancer, especially metastatic disease, and those who don’t, and it was logical to see if there was something different about their bones,”

To investigate this further, she along with her colleagues used data from the NIA’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

The researchers collected data on the bone mineral density of 519 men, measured from 1973 to 1984. Then, they used the same collection to understand which men were eventually diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Classically, bone density declines as both men and women age. However, Loeb and her colleagues discovered that the 76 men in their study developed prostate cancer had bone density. The levels remained significantly higher as they aged as compared with those who remained cancer-free.

Researchers accounted lifestyle factors that could have influenced bone density – these include smoking, body mass index and consumption of dietary calcium and vitamin D.

Further examination revealed that the 18 men who developed the high-risk form of prostate cancer had the highest bone density. Yet, researchers feel that the number of participants was too small and they would not make any final conclusions about bone features and metastatic disease.

Loeb says, “If we can elucidate the underlying pathways, we could develop strategies for preventing prostate cancer from occurring or spreading,”

The finding of this research has been published in the July British Journal of Urology International.