(Image source from: Reader's Digest Canada)

Men with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are four to five times at higher risk of being detected with prostate cancer, according to researchers including one of Indian-origin.

IBD is a common chronic condition causing inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

According to findings, men with IBD have higher than average Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) - a substance produced by the prostate gland.

Raised levels of PSA may indicate prostate cancer - a non-cancerous condition such as prostatitis, or an enlarged prostate.

"These patients may need to be screened more carefully than a man without inflammatory bowel disease," said Shilajit Kundu, Associate Professor from Northwestern University in the United States.

"If a man with inflammatory bowel disease has an elevated PSA, it may be an indicator of prostate cancer," Kundu added.

Yet, umpteen people believe their PSA is elevated merely because they have an inflammatory condition.

For the study, published in the journal European Urology, the team looked at 1,033 men with IBD and a control group of 9,306 men without IBD.

A previous study led by researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden showed that children who formed IBD prior to the age of 18 have a three to five-fold higher mortality rate than people without IBD, both during childhood and into adulthood.

This translates into a 2.2-year depletion in individuals' life expectancy monitored up to the age of 65, the findings suggested.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), prostate cancer is the second leading cancer among males in large Indian cities like Kolkata, Pune, Delhi, and Thiruvananthapuram, and third in cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai.

According to ICMR projection data, the number of cases will double by 2020.

Early detection and a healthy lifestyle can prevent cancer, the researchers said.

By Sowmya Sangam