High levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in blood increase the risk of prostate cancer recurrence, according to a Duke University study.

"While laboratory studies support an important role for cholesterol in prostate cancer, population-based evidence linking cholesterol and prostate cancer is mixed," said Emma Allott, postdoctoral associate at Duke University School of Medicine, in a press release. "Understanding associations between obesity, cholesterol, and prostate cancer is important given that cholesterol levels are readily modifiable with diet and/or statin use, and could therefore have important, practical implications for prostate cancer prevention and treatment."

Allott said that even partial normalization of serum lipid levels among men with dyslipidemia [abnormal lipid profile] lowers risk of prostate cancer recurrence.

For the study, the researchers examined data of 843 men who underwent radical prostatectomy and never took statins before the surgery.

They found that patients who were associated with serum triglyceride levels of 150 mg/dL or higher had a 35 percent increased risk for prostate cancer recurrence as compared to those with normal triglyceride levels.

Every 10 mg/dL increase in total serum cholesterol above 200 mg/Dl led to a 9 percent increased risk for prostate cancer recurrence. On the other hand, every 10 mg/dL increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL; known as "good" cholesterol), there was a 39 percent lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence.

"Given that 45 percent of deaths worldwide can be attributed to cardiovascular disease and cancer, with prostate cancer being the second most common cause of male cancer deaths in the United States, understanding the role of dyslipidemia as a shared, modifiable risk factor for both of these common causes of mortality is of great importance," Allott said.

The finding is published in the Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.