LONDON, (Reuters) – Men with long index fingers have a lower risk of prostate cancer, British scientists said yesterday, a finding that could be used to help select those who need regular screening for the disease.
Researchers at Britain’s Warwick University and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) found that men whose index finger is longer than their ring finger were one-third less likely to develop the disease than men with the opposite pattern of finger lengths.
“Relative finger length could be used as a simple test for prostate cancer risk, particularly in men aged under 60,” said Ros Eeles from the ICR, who helped lead the study.
She said the finding, which the scientists believe may be related to levels of the male hormone testosterone, could be used in combination with other factors such as family history or genetic testing to select at-risk men for screening.
Screening for prostate cancer is controversial because the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests used cannot differentiate between men with aggressive cancer and those who would never have symptoms or need treatment.
A study in the United States last year found routine prostate cancer screening there had resulted in more than one million men being diagnosed with tumours who might otherwise have suffered no ill effects from them.
In the latest study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, Eeles’s team explained that the relative length of index and ring fingers is set before birth and is believed to relate to the levels of sex hormones to which a baby is exposed in the womb.
