– The results showed the potential importance of trying to improve one’s fitness to reduce the risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, says Kate Bolam Enarsson, a researcher at GIH and the study's first author.

The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The results showed that an increase in fitness between the tests was associated with a significantly lower risk of suffering from prostate cancer during the follow-up period. A similar trend was seen for the risk of dying from prostate cancer, but that risk reduction was not significant, likely due to so few men dying from prostate cancer in the study.

More measurements

– What is new here is that we were able to investigate changes in fitness between two repeated measurements and the risk of prostate cancer in such a large group of men. Previous studies have predominantly studied the relationship between fitness and prostate cancer risk at just one point in time, says Kate Bolam Enarsson.

– However, it is essential to note that this study was an observational study, not an exercise intervention, and we cannot comment on cause and effect. Nonetheless the findings are extremely interesting and have great importance for public health messaging around ways men can try to reduce their risk of prostate cancer, says Kate Bolam Enarsson.

The HPI group link to another website produced the study at GIH.