Associations between Body Mass Index and Prostate Cancer: The Impact on Progression-Free Survival

Background and objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of body mass index on PCa outcomes in our institution and also to find if there are statistically significant differences between the variables. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to extract information about all male patients with prostate cancer between 1 February 2015, and 25 October 2022, and with information about age, weight, height, follow-up, and PSA. We identified a group of 728 patients, of which a total of 219 patients resulted after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival, which was defined as the length of time that the patient lives with the disease, but no relapses occur, and this group included 105 patients. In this case, 114 patients had a biological, local or metastatic relapse and were included in the progression group. Results: Our study suggests that prostate cancer incidence rises with age (72 ± 7.81 years) in men with a normal BMI, but the diagnostic age tends to drop in those with higher BMIs, i.e., overweight, and obese in the age range of 69.47 ± 6.31 years, respectively, 69.1 ± 7.51 years. A statistically significant difference was observed in the progression group of de novo metastases versus the absent metastases group at diagnostic (p = 0.04). The progression group with metastases present (n = 70) at diagnostic had a shorter time to progression, compared to the absent metastases group (n = 44), 18.04 ± 11.37 months, respectively, 23.95 ± 16.39 months. Also, PSA levels tend to diminish with increasing BMI classification, but no statistically significant difference was observed. Conclusions: The median diagnostic age decreases with increasing BMI category. Overweight and obese patients are more likely to have an advanced or metastatic prostate cancer at diagnosis. The progression group with metastatic disease at diagnostic had a shorter time to progression, compared to the absent metastases group. Regarding prostate serum antigen, the levels tend to become lower in the higher BMI groups, possibly leading to a late diagnosis.