Grade 2 and 3 Obesity and Diagnosed Prostate Cancer in Middle-Aged and Elderly Men: An Epidemiologic Study with Stratified Multistage Sampling Design

Background. The association of obesity with the odds of diagnosed prostate cancer (DPC) is inconclusive. Whether grade 2 or grade 3 obesity is associated with increased odds of DPC has not been investigated. Design and Methods. Cross-sectional data of 7,974 subjects aged ≥40 years were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2010. Odds ratios (ORs) of DPC associated with grade 2 or grade 3 obesity were estimated by conducting weighted logistic regression models. Results. The unadjusted rates of DPC did not differ significantly over grades of BMI (). After adjustment for different groups of potential confounding factors, grade 2 or grade 3 obesity was not significantly associated with the odds of DPC with ORs changing from 0.62 to 0.69 for grade 2 obesity and from 0.81 to 1.09 for grade 3 obesity. Moreover, morbid obesity (grade 2 and 3 obesity combined) was not linked to the odds of DPC. Conclusion. Grade 2 or grade 3 obesity was not associated with the odds of DPC. Whether they are associated with a substantially increased risk of high-grade DPC needs to be further investigated as accumulating evidence has shown that obesity increases the risk of high-grade disease.