The study, led by the University of Warwick and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) found that men with longer ring fingers were more likely to develop prostate cancer during their lives than men who had the opposite length of finger.
When it comes to the risk of developing the disease before they are 60 years old, the relationship is even greater in men with longer ring fingers who have a 87 percent higher chance.
"Our results show that relative finger length can be used as a simple test for the risk of prostate cancer, especially in men under 60 years of age," said fellow researchers Professor Ros Eeles of the ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. "
He added, "These interesting findings indicate that finger patterns can be used to select men who are at risk for screening at this time, perhaps combining them with other factors such as family history or genetic testing." Similarly, as quoted from the Telegraph (12/01/10).
During the 15 years from 1994 to 2009, researchers interviewed more than 1,500 prostate cancer patients as well as more than 3,000 healthy cases.
The men were shown a series of pictures of various finger length patterns and were asked to identify the one that most closely resembled their right hand.
The most common finger length pattern seen in more than half of the men in the study is the ring finger that is longer than the index finger.
Men whose ring fingers and index finger are the same length (about 19 percent) have the same risk of prostate cancer, but men with ring fingers longer than the index 48 percent are at risk of prostate cancer.
The relative length of the ring and index finger is set before birth, and is thought to be related to the level of the sex hormone testosterone that is exposed to the baby in the womb.
Higher testosterone levels are the same as longer ring fingers, the researchers now believe that much exposure to testosterone before birth heightens the chances of developing prostate cancer in later life.
Previous research has found a link between exposure to uterine hormones and the development of other diseases including breast cancer (which is linked to higher estrogen exposure in infants in the womb) and osteoarthritis (which is connected to the ring finger longer than the index finger).
Testosterone is known to be a driver of prostate disease once the disease appears, but this shows that the hormone is also a major cause.
Professor Ken Muir, a research fellow from Warwick University said, "Our study indicates that it is the levels of hormones exposed to babies in the womb that can have an impact decades later."
He added, "As our research continues, we will be able to see a further range of factors that could play a role in developing the disease."
Emma Halls, Head of Prostate Action, who helped fund the work, published in the British Journal of Cancer said, "This study brings us one step closer to determining the risk factors for prostate cancer which may be the biggest problem in current thinking about prevention and treatment of the disease. "
"However, we are still far in terms of reducing the number of men who die of prostate cancer every year and need more research and education in all fields to achieve this goal," he concluded.
If men with ring fingers longer than the index finger tend to be rich according to other studies, the men tend to have a lot of money to prevent or treat their prostate cancer. And if this is true, nature does maintain its balance, in other words nature is fair.
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