Central body fatness is a stronger predictor of cancer risk than overall body size.
prospective_cohort · Level II
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30670692.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-08159-w and PMC identifier 6342989.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The importance of body size versus weight distribution for cancer risk is unclear. We investigated associations between measures of body size and shape and the risk of developing cancer. The study population consisted of 26,607 participants from the Alberta's Tomorrow Project cohort. Two main measures of body shape and size were examined: i) body mass index (BMI) and ii) waist circumference (WC). Incident cancers were identified via linkage to the Alberta Cancer Registry. Cox proportional hazards models were used. Males and females classified as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg /m<sup>-2</sup>) have a 33% and 22% increased risk of all-cancer, respectively, than their normal weight counterparts. Similar all-cancer risk increases are observed for those above sex-specific WC guidelines. Mutual adjustment for WC attenuates the association between BMI and all-cancer risk, especially among females. Central adiposity appears to be a stronger predictor of all-cancer risk than body size.
Medical subject headings
- Adipose Tissue
- Adiposity
- Body Size
- Neoplasms
- Risk Factors