Men with long index fingers are at lower risk of prostate cancer, a study found.

Scientists in Britain who compared the hands of 1,500 prostate cancer patients and 3,000 healthy men found that those whose index was longer than their ring finger were 33 percent less likely to develop the potentially fatal disease.

"Relative finger length could be used as a simple test for prostate cancer risk," said Ros Eeles, one of the study's lead authors. The study was published in the British Journal of Cancer Dec. 1.

Finger length is set before birth, influenced by the level of sex hormones babies are exposed to in the womb, researchers from the ICR and the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, said. A longer index finger points to less testosterone, which may protect against cancer later in life, they said.

- Marthe Fourcade, Bloomberg News