RESEARCH REPORT

Body mass index in young adulthood and cancer mortality: a retrospective cohort study

M Okasha¹, P McCarron², J McEwen³ and G Davey Smith¹

¹ Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
² Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, UK
³ Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M Okasha, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, UK;
Mona.Okasha{at}bristol.ac.uk

Study objective: To examine the relation between body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood and subsequent mortality from cancer.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: University of Glasgow student health service. Weight and height were measured by a physician, and used to calculate BMI.

Participants: 8335 men and 2340 women who attended the student health service while at university between 1948 and 1968, and who were followed up with the NHS central register.

Main results: The main outcome measure was cancer mortality. Three hundred and thirty nine men and 82 women died of cancer during the follow up (mean 41 years). BMI was associated with mortality from all cancers in men and women, although it did not reach conventional statistical significance. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) per 5 kg/m², was 1.22 (0.97 to 1.53) in men and 1.43 (0.95 to 2.16) in women. Two hundred men and 61 women died from cancers not related to smoking. The adjusted HR for mortality from these were 1.36 (1.02 to 1.82) and 1.80 (1.13 to 2.86) respectively. These results are adjusted for height, number of siblings, pulse rate, year of birth, age, smoking, birth order, number of siblings, and age at menarche in women. Site specific analyses, comparing the highest with the lowest quartile of the BMI distribution found increased risks of prostate cancer (n=28) and breast cancer among heavier subjects. No association between BMI and colorectal cancer was found.

Conclusions: BMI in adolescence has lasting implications for risk of cancer mortality in later life. Future research will include measures of BMI throughout the lifecourse, to determine the period of greatest risk of obesity, in terms of cancer mortality.

Keywords: body mass index; cancer; mortality; cohort study

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; HR, hazard ratio

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

DEBATE, DIALOGUE, STIMULATION: A FEAST FOR READERS THIS MONTH

John R Ashton and Carlos Alvarez-Dardet
J Epidemiol Community Health 2002 56: 721. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hsing, A. W, Sakoda, L. C, Chua, S. C Jr (2007). Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and prostate cancer. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 86: 843S-857S [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Freedland, S. J., Platz, E. A. (2007). Obesity and Prostate Cancer: Making Sense out of Apparently Conflicting Data. Epidemiol Rev 0: mxm006v1- [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hall, N R (2006). Survival in colorectal cancer: impact of body mass and exercise. Gut 55: 8-10 [Full Text]  
• Robinson, W. R., Stevens, J., Gammon, M. D., John, E. M. (2005). Obesity before Age 30 Years and Risk of Advanced Prostate Cancer. Am J Epidemiol 161: 1107-1114 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Griggs, J. J., Sorbero, M. E. S., Lyman, G. H. (2005). Undertreatment of Obese Women Receiving Breast Cancer Chemotherapy. Arch Intern Med 165: 1267-1273 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Brakenhielm, E., Veitonmaki, N., Cao, R., Kihara, S., Matsuzawa, Y., Zhivotovsky, B., Funahashi, T., Cao, Y. (2004). Adiponectin-induced antiangiogenesis and antitumor activity involve caspase-mediated endothelial cell apoptosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 2476-2481 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pan, S. Y., Johnson, K. C., Ugnat, A.-M., Wen, S. W., Mao, Y. (2004). Association of Obesity and Cancer Risk in Canada. Am J Epidemiol 159: 259-268 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McCarron, P., Okasha, M., McEwen, J., Smith, G. D. (2003). Association between course of study at university and cause-specific mortality. JRSM 96: 384-388 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kabir, Z., Clancy, L. (2003). Global trends in adenocarcinomas and obesity: an epidemiologic link?. Int J Epidemiol 32: 661-662 [Full Text]  
• (2003). Lucina. Arch. Dis. Child. 88: 274-274 [Full Text]