Fish intake and the risk of fatal prostate cancer: findings from a cohort study in Japan

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the relationship between the intake of fish and the risk of death from prostate cancer.

Design: Data were derived from a prospective cohort study in Japan. Fish consumption obtained from a baseline questionnaire was classified into the two categories of 'low intake' and 'high intake'. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals.

Subjects: Data for 5589 men aged 30-79 years were analysed.

Results: A total of twenty-one prostate cancer deaths were observed during 75 072 person-years of follow-up. Mean age at baseline study of these twenty-one subjects was 67.7 years, ranging from 47 and 79 years old. Results showed a consistent inverse association of this cancer between the high v. low intake groups. The multivariate model adjusted for potential confounding factors and some other food items showed a HR of 0.12 (95 % CI 0.05, 0.32) for the high intake group of fish consumption.

Conclusions: These results support the hypothesis that a high intake of fish may decrease the risk of prostate cancer death. Given the paucity of studies examining the association between prostate cancer and fish consumption, particularly in Asian populations, these findings require confirmation in additional cohort studies.