Dietary patterns and risk of advanced prostate cancer: a principal component analysis in Uruguay.

OBJECTIVE

In order to explore the role of broader eating patterns in the etiology of prostate cancer, we conducted a principal components analysis among Uruguayan men.

METHODS

The study included 345 newly diagnosed cases of advanced prostate cancer and 690 hospitalized controls. The factor analysis was performed using the control population.

RESULTS

Factor analysis allowed the extraction of five patterns, labeled as prudent, traditional, substituter, drinker, and Western. Whereas the traditional and Western patterns were directly associated with risk of prostate cancer (OR for high quartile versus the low quartile of the Western diet was 2.35, 95% CI 1.44-3.85, p-value for trend < 0.0001), the prudent, drinker, and substituter patterns were not associated with risk of the disease. After adjustment of each pattern for the foods with high loadings, these three patterns did not modify substantially their original ORs.

CONCLUSION

The Western and traditional patterns could partially explain the high incidence of advanced prostate cancer in Uruguay, a main producer of beef in the World.