Experts hope that this discovery will help to detect the cancer
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The length of a man’s fingers could reveal vital clues to his risk of prostate cancer, reveals new research
The study, released in the British Journal of Cancer, found that a man whose index finger was longer than his ring finger is significantly less likely to develop the disease.
The researchers made the discovery after comparing the hands of over 1,500 prostate cancer patients with those of 3,000 healthy men.
It is thought that the length of the index finger is fixed before birth and that the finger length is related to the level of sex hormones in the womb.
The study results suggest that being exposed to less testosterone before birth could protect a baby from developing the cancer in later life.
Professor Ros Eeles, one of the authors of the report, admitted that more studies would be needed, but said that if these findings were confirmed then it could be used as a simple test for prostate cancer risk.
Emma Halls, chief executive of Prostate Action, said, ‘This research brings us another step closer to helping determine risk factors for prostate cancer, which is possibly the biggest issue in current thinking about preventing and treating the disease.’
By Lauren King
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