The impact of birth weight on prostate cancer incidence and mortality in a population-based study of men born in 1913 and followed up from 50 to 85 years of age.

Background: Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) hormone is directly associated with birth weight (BW), and high IGF-I measured in adults is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer (PCA). Whether BW and PCA are related is inconclusive to date.

Methods: BW and PCA incidence and mortality data for a population-based cohort of 1,436 singleton Swedish men born in 1913 and followed until 85 years of age were obtained.

Results: BW > or = 4,250 g was associated with significantly higher PCA incidence [62% (CI: 4%-151%)] and PCA mortality [82% (CI: 3%-221%)] than BW 3,001-4,249 g, even when other potential effect modifiers were taken into account. The hazards ratio for PCA incidence fell from approximately 3 at age 50 to unity at age 85. Approximately one out of every six PCA incident cases between 50 and 70 years of age could be attributed to BW > or = 4,250 g.

Conclusions: In the current study PCA incidence and mortality rate appears to increase with BW.