A 22-y prospective study of fish intake in relation to prostate cancer incidence and mortality.
BACKGROUND
Fish and seafood n-3 fatty acids may prevent or delay the progression of prostate cancer, but epidemiologic studies do not uniformly support this hypothesis.


OBJECTIVE
We examined the relation of fish and seafood n-3 fatty acid intakes with prostate cancer incidence and mortality.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective cohort study among 20,167 men participating in the Physician's Health Study who were free of cancer in 1983.


RESULTS
During 382 144 person-years of follow-up, 2161 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 230 died of prostate cancer. Fish intake was unrelated to prostate cancer incidence. Survival analysis among the men diagnosed with prostate cancer revealed that those consuming fish >or=5 times/wk had a 48% lower risk of prostate cancer death than did men consuming fish less than once weekly [relative risk (RR) = 0.52; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.91; P for trend = 0.05]. A similar association was found between seafood n-3 fatty acid intake and prostate cancer mortality (RR(Q5 versus Q1) = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.99; P for trend = 0.02). These associations became stronger when the analyses were restricted to clinically detected cases.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that fish intake is unrelated to prostate cancer incidence but may improve prostate cancer survival.
Chavarro
Jorge E
JE
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jchavarr@hsph.harvard.edu
Stampfer
Meir J
MJ
Hall
Megan N
MN
Sesso
Howard D
HD
Ma
Jing
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3