Increased BMI at age 13 years linked with colon cancer risk in adulthood

Risk for colon cancer among Danish adults increased with rising BMI at age 13 years, according to study findings presented at the European Obesity Summit.

“BMI in childhood was associated with the later risk of colon cancer, whereas there were limited indications of associations with rectal cancer,” Britt Wang Jensen, PhD, MSc, of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues wrote. “These findings suggest that BMI in childhood may influence the risk of colon but not rectal cancer in adulthood.”

Researchers used data from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register to identify children born from 1930 to 1972 (n = 257,623; 49.7% women) to determine whether BMI at age 7 to 13 years is linked with the risk for colon and rectal cancer in adulthood.

Overall, 2,676 adults were diagnosed with colon cancer (47.5%) and 1,681 were diagnosed with rectal cancer (38.9%). The risk for developing colon cancer increased by 9% with each BMI z-score unit increase at age 13 years. The links between BMI and rectal cancer were mostly nonsignficant.

“Since no information is available on adult BMI in the present study we cannot rule out that the results observed are due to continuation of large body size from childhood to adulthood,” the researchers wrote. “However, if this was the case we would expect to see an increasing risk of colon cancer with increasing age in childhood, which is not the case. It is possible that exposure to excess weight already from childhood increases the risk of colon cancer.” – by Amber Cox

Reference:

Jensen BW, et al. OS07.04. Presented at: European Obesity Summit; June 1-4, 2016; Gothenburg, Sweden.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.