RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Adipose tissue is increasingly considered as an endocrinal active organ and may have an influence on the development and progression of prostate cancer. Adverse body fat distribution, considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is not reflected by the body mass index (BMI). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this work was to assess anthropometric indices which provide a better estimate of body fat distribution and to evaluate their association with clinical and histopathological parameters of prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy between March 2011 and March 2013, height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference were measured, then the BMI, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were calculated. The relationships between anthropometric measures and indices and clinical and histopathological features of PCA were evaluated with uni- and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: In 668 patients available for evaluation, obesity rates were 22.8 %, 50.6% and 30.2 % as defined by BMI ≥ 30, WHR ≥ 1 and WHtR ≥ 0.6, respectively. On univariate analysis, WC and WHtR ≥ 0.6 correlated with tumor volume (TV) > 2.1 cm(2) (p < 0.05), respectively. WC and WHtR were independent predictors of a TV ≥ 2.1 cm(2) (p < 0.05) and a WHtR ≥ 0.6 was an independent predictor of a TV ≥ 2.1 cm(2) (p < 0.018, risk ratio 1.506, 95 % confidence interval 1.072-2.115). CONCLUSION: In general a higher degree of adiposity seems to correlate with a higher tumor volume. Whether anthropometric indices have prognostic impact needs to be clarified during follow-up.
