This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Obesity, overweight duration tied to cancer risk in women
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The risk for certain cancers in women may be increased with longer durations of overweight or obesity, according to recent findings.
Melina Arnold, PhD, of the section of cancer surveillance at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, Hoda Anton-Culver, PhD, professor and chair of epidemiology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, and colleagues evaluated data from the Women’s Health Initiative on 73,913 women (mean age, 63.3 years) with BMI information who were free of cancer at baseline (mean follow-up, 12.6 years).
Through follow-up, 6,301 invasive obesity-related cancer cases occurred. Forty percent of participants were never overweight, from age 18 years to study exit, whereas 60% were ever overweight (BMI 25 kg/m2) and nearly half of those were also ever obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2). Among participants with overweight or obesity, the average duration of overweight was 31.3 years and the average duration of obesity was 20.6 years.
The risk for all obesity-related cancers combined was significantly increased with a longer overweight duration (multivariable-adjusted HR per 10-year increment = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.06-1.09), with the strongest associations found for endometrial cancer (HR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.12-1.22) and kidney cancer (HR = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.07-1.26).
The risk for all obesity-related related cancers combined was even more increased with longer obesity duration (multivariable-adjusted HR per 10-year increment = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.08-1.12), as well as individually for colon, breast, endometrial and kidney cancer; HRs for every 10 years of obesity were 1.07 (95% CI, 1.04-1.1) for breast cancer and 1.23 (95% CI, 1.18-1.28) for endometrial cancer.
“This study showed that the risk of cancer associated with overweight and obesity compounds over time, and a longer duration of overweight and obesity during adulthood is associated with increased risks of several cancers,” the researchers wrote. “Furthermore, not only the duration but also the degree of overweight seems to play an important role in the risk of developing cancer, especially for endometrial cancer. Although the observational nature of our study precludes inferring causality or making clinical recommendations, our findings suggest that reducing overweight duration in adulthood could reduce cancer risk. If this is true, health care teams should recognize the potential of obesity management in cancer prevention and that excess body weight in women is important to manage regardless of the age of the patient.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts