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Obesity, liver cancer link may originate in childhood
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a risk factor for liver cancer among adults. In obese children, however, signs of non-alcoholic fatty liver already exist and, according to researchers, this may signal that the correlation between obesity and liver cancer risk originates in childhood.
Children born between 1930 and 1989 (167,311 males and 162,465 females) were identified through the Copenhagen School Health Records Register. The researchers aimed to determine whether body size from age 7 to 13 years was associated with the risk for liver cancer in adulthood; the Danish Cancer Registry was used to obtain liver cancer status. Using age- and sex-specific references, BMI z scores were calculated.
At age 7 years, an increase in BMI of 1 z score was associated with a 1.13 (95% CI, 0.99-1.30) increased risk for liver cancer in adulthood among males. Among girls at the same age, a 1 z score increase in BMI was associated with a 1.19 (95% CI, 0.97-1.45) increased risk for liver cancer at adulthood.
Similarly, at age 13 years, the increased risk for liver cancer was 1.20 (95% CI 1.05-1.37) per BMI z score increase among males and 1.29 (95% CI, 1.06-1.57) among females.
“These results suggest that the obesity-associated risk of liver cancer has its origins in childhood, and the strength of this association increases with the child’s age,” the researchers wrote. “Prevention of obesity at any age in childhood may reduce the risk of liver cancer.”
For more information:
- Baker JL. 65-LB-P. Presented at: the 29th Annual Meeting of the Obesity Society; Oct. 1-5, 2011; Orlando, Fla.
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