Associations of body mass index and waist circumference with incidence of overall and of 27 site-specific cancers: a population-based retrospective cohort study
Menée à partir de données 2009-2020 de l'Assurance maladie coréenne portant sur près de 4 millions de personnes (durée moyenne de suivi : 9 ans), cette étude analyse l'association entre l'indice de masse corporelle, le tour de taille et l'incidence des cancers (27 localisations) en fonction du sexe et du statut ménopausique
Background: Overweight and obesity are known risk factors for cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate associations of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) with incidence of 27 site-specific cancers stratified by sex and menopausal status accounting for non-linearity.
Methods: We performed a population-based retrospective cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS 2009-2020) database. We included 3,986,155 participants (aged ≥ 20 years), and the mean follow-up duration was 9.0 ± 1.6 years. The primary outcome was the incidence of cancer.
Results: There were positive associations between BMI or WC and incidences of cancers including overall cancer, digestive tract cancer (except for esophageal cancer), hepato-bilio-pancreatic cancer, hematological cancer, sex-specific cancers, brain/central nervous system (postmenopausal women), thyroid, renal, and bladder cancers. We observed inverse associations for several cancers, including lung and laryngeal cancers.
Conclusions: Our findings of differential associations of BMI and WC with incidence of various cancers contribute to the understanding of the relationship between obesity and cancer risk in Asian populations. These results may provide evidence to support the implementation of active surveillance and targeted management strategies for obesity.
Cancer Communications , article en libre accès, 2025