For the past few decades, prostate cancer has been an increasingly large health concern for men. Each year, it is among the largest killer of men over the age of 50. While the cause for why some men obtain the disease and others don’t is still not completely known, a new study may have found a link between patients and how large of a tumor will be developed if the patient does have prostate cancer.

According to the Henry Ford Hospital’s Urology Institute, located in Detroit, Michigan, there could be a correlation between a patient’s weight and the size of the tumor that they develop. This new theory is based on a study that reviewed the charts of over 3,300 men that had prostate removal surgery between 2001 and 2007.

To review whether there was an actual correlation between tumor size and BMI, the team at the Urology Institute compared the weight of the patient to the weight of the tumor. The study determined that in every BMI category, which ranged from normal to morbidly obese, there was a direct correlation between tumor and patient weight as heavier patients had larger tumors and lighter patients had smaller tumors.

The lead of the study, Dr. Nilesh Patil, is set to present the finding of the team’s study at the American Urology Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco. The authors of the study noted that there was already a link between a person having a high BMI and how aggressive the patient’s cancer was.