Men with higher levels of physical activity may reduce their risk of dying from prostate cancer and slow the progression of the disease, according to a study in the May 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Some studies have suggested that more physically active men may have a lower risk of prostate cancer, but the associations have tended to be moderate, not always statistically significant, and sometimes only evident among older subgroups or for substantially high, but not moderate, levels of activity," according to background information in the article. However, many of these studies did not research physical activity in detail.
Edward L. Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., from Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues used data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study to assess the association between physical activity and prostate cancer incidence and progression. The number of cases of incident, advanced, fatal, and high-grade prostate cancer was determined for 47,620 U.S. male health professionals in the study, who were followed up from February 1986 to January 2000. Participants were asked to report the average time per week they took part in the following activities during the past year: walking or hiking outdoors, jogging, running, bicycling, lap swimming, tennis, squash or racquetball, and calisthenics or rowing.