Prostate Cancer Incidence Higher for Men With Desk Jobs

Rates lower for workers whose jobs require high physical activity

FRIDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) --Men whose jobs require little physical activity have a higher incidence of prostate cancer than men whose jobs require high physical activity, according to a study in the February issue of Cancer Causes and Control.

Anusha Krishnadasan, Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues examined the association between occupational physical activity and prostate cancer risk in 362 men with prostate cancer and 1,805 matched controls. All were workers at a nuclear and rocket engine-testing facility in Southern California. Occupational physical activity was ranked as low (mainly sitting), moderate (sitting and standing) or high (walking with light to heavy manual work).

The researchers found that subjects with prostate cancer were more likely to have high chemical exposure. After the researchers adjusted for occupational confounders including socioeconomic status and trichloroethylene exposure, men whose jobs required high physical activity levels had a lower incidence of prostate cancer (odds ratio 0.63 for high versus low activity). However, this was true for aerospace workers (odds ratio 0.55 for high versus low activity) but not radiation workers.

"Our results suggest that adult men who are more continually active at work may have a decreased risk of prostate cancer," Krishnadasan and colleagues conclude.

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