Mental Health

Men with Short Ring Fingers Respond to Prostate Cancer Medication

By Drishya Nair | Update Date: Aug 18, 2012 06:02 AM EDT

If you are a man, and if you think that your ring fingers are short then there is a bit of good news. 

A latest new study claims that men with short ring fingers may be more likely to recover from prostate cancer. Research shows that those victims of prostate cancer, whose ring finger was shorter than the index finger, responded better to an anti-tumor drug.

Apparently, men with short ring fingers have lower levels of testosterone (responsible for prostate tumor growth) and the research conducted on 142 volunteers concluded that these men respond well to anti-tumor drugs called Dutasteride. This drug fights cancer by blocking the effects of testosterone on the prostate, the study says according to Mail Online.

Finger length has been linked to various risks ranging from physical to psychological conditions by previous studies. 

The length of the fingers and the difference in their sizes are determined the level of testosterone exposure during the formation of a baby, and according to researchers, this can have a profound effect on health later in life, the report said.

Men usually have longer ring fingers and in women, the length of the index finger and the ring finger is known to be similar, however, this could differ from person and person.

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America and affects 1 in 6 men, according to Prostate Cancer Foundation. 

The risk of contracting the disease is known to increase with age, and more than 65 percent prostate cancers were diagnosed in men over the age of 65.

However, according to the latest findings by experts at Seoul National University in South Korea, doctors, may soon be able to predict who will respond best to treatment by measuring men's fingers.

The participants of the study did not have cancer but they did have enlarged prostates or benign prostatic hyperplasia, a common condition in men over 50 where the prostate grows and blocks the flow of urine, Mail Online reported.

The volunteers took Dutasteride every day for six months and later when their prostrates were measured, it was found that men with shorter ring fingers had much reduced prostrates than others.

"These results suggest finger length might predict the response to Dutasteride treatment," the researchers said. 

The study was published in the British Journal of Urology.

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