Men with high levels of calcium in their blood are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer, a disease that may be fatal in some cases, a new report shows.

The results could help identify men at risk of dying from prostate cancer, as well as more accurately calculate the risk of developing prostate cancer, and may also lead to the development of better targeted treatment and screening.

There are many different factors that influence the development of prostate cancer, but the results of the new study suggest there is a relationship between high levels of calcium in men’s blood and the risk of developing a fatal form of prostate cancer.

The study led by Gary Schwartz, of Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Halcyon Skinner, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, involved 2,814 men. They were questioned in a government health survey and were monitored for a period of almost 10 years. During this period, blood samples were drawn, and serum calcium levels were measured. The end of the study revealed 85 cases of prostate cancer, including 25 prostate cancer deaths.

Researchers concluded that men with the highest serum calcium levels were three times more likely to die of the disease than men with the lowest levels.

The results of the study will be published in the September issue of the journal “Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.”

Nearly 220,000 men were diagnosed with the disease in 2007. About 27,000 died from it, according to the American Cancer Society. Prostate cancer is the fifth most deadly tumor, after lung, breast, colon and pancreatic cancer.