The medical community has been split on whether the incidence of prostrate cancer was linked to body mass index or not. A new study by researchers at Duke University suggests that there is a link.

The Duke study looked at 57,827 men, who were age 40 years or older and who underwent prostate cancer screening.

Forty-eight percent of patients reported being overweight and 25 percent were obese. Researchers found that the obese men were more likely than men with a normal BMI to have had a serum test for prostrate cancer within the past year. It was 62 percent for obese men, versus 56 percent of normal weight men.

In addition, researchers found that obese men visited their physician more frequently than non-obese men.

The data suggests that the higher incidence of prostrate cancer disease in obese men may not be explained by different screening behavior and may be caused by basic differences in the "tumor biology" itself, the study's authors said in a statement Thursday.

There will be an estimated 220,000 new cases of prostate cancer this year and 29,200 prostate cancer related deaths, according to the UroToday Web site. The organization translates Urological research into clinical practice.

The study was published in the February issue of the Journal of Urology.