New study on link between prostate cancer and diabetes

New research into the link between prostate cancer and diabetes has found that the level of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) in men who suffer from type 2 diabetes rises more slowly over time than for men who do not have the condition. A high level of the antigen normally results in a greater risk of prostate cancer .
The researchers monitored a group of 569 men for many years, keeping an eye on their PSA levels during this period, and revealed that the PSA levels of men who didn’t have diabetes went up by 3.7 per cent each year, while for those men with diabetes, the levels increased by 1.1 per cent annually.
Although this means that diabetes may protect men from the condition, the study by scientists at the University of Michigan and published in the journal Urology, has added to the findings about the complex association between prostate cancer and diabetes, as previous studies have suggested that this link may not always be the case.
Another study from Duke University found that diabetic men are more inclined to receive a worse result when being diagnosed for prostate cancer, although the research did also show that the heightened risk could be more due to obesity, a contributory factor to many cases of type 2 diabetes.