Diabetes and Mortality in Men with Prostate Cancer

Obesity in men is associated with elevated risk for diabetes (Diabetes Care 2007; 30:S42). Also, obesity in men with prostate cancer is associated with elevated risk for disease-specific mortality (Cancer 2007; 110:2691). However, men with diabetes (most of whom are obese) have lower risk for prostate cancer than do men without diabetes (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006; 15:2056). Do men with diabetes also have lower risk for prostate cancer mortality than do men without diabetes?

To answer this question, investigators from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) performed a retrospective analysis using data from RTOG 92-02, a randomized, controlled, phase III trial of short-term versus long-term (4 months vs. 24 months) androgen-de…