A new study published in CANCER, a peer reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, on Feb. 11, 2013, is the first to indicate differing effects of exercise between black men and Caucasian men that have prostate cancer.
Black men have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer and of dying from the disease compared with Caucasians.
Exercise improved the chances of survival in Caucasian men, prevented their risk of having more serious forms of the disease, and may prevent Caucasian men from having prostate cancer.
The same effects were not seen in black men. The reason for the difference are as yet unknown.
Lionel L. Bañez, MD, of the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and his colleagues asked 307 men (164 white; 143 black) undergoing a prostate biopsy to complete a survey that assessed their exercise amounts per week. The exercise categories included sedentary, mildly active, moderately active, and highly active.
Caucasian men who were moderately or highly active were 53 percent less likely to have biopsy results indicating that they had prostate cancer compared with men who were sedentary or mildly active. There was no association between exercise amount and prostate cancer among black men.
Caucasian men who had prostate cancer and exercised were 13 percent less likely to develop higher levels of growth of prostate cancer cells but blacks were not.
The scientists have funding and plans to define the difference that exercise plays in prostate cancer between the two groups of men.
The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert website the date of publication.
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