Waist Circumference Predicts Obesity-Related Cancer in Men

TOPLINE:

Waist circumference was shown to be a stronger marker than body mass index (BMI) for the risk of developing obesity-related cancers in men but not in women, a Swedish study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Data on BMI and waist circumference from 339,190 individuals (average age, 51.4 years) were drawn from various Swedish populations; cancer diagnoses were obtained from the Swedish Cancer Register.
• Obesity-related cancers were defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and included cancers of the esophagus (adenocarcinoma), gastric (cardia), colorectal, liver/intrahepatic bile ducts, breast, endometrium, meningioma, thyroid, and multiple myeloma.
• Waist circumference is harder to measure accurately than BMI, but by adjusting for confounders and ensuring that waist circumference and BMI measures were comparable, risk ratios for the relationship between each measure and cancer-related outcomes were determined.

TAKEAWAY:

• During a median follow-up of 14 years, 18,185 established obesity-related cancers were recorded.
• In men, a waist circumference increase of approximately 11 cm was associated with a 25% higher risk of developing obesity-related cancers, whereas a BMI increase of 3.7 kg/m² corresponded to a 19% increased risk.
• After accounting for BMI, high waist circumference still remained a risk factor for obesity-related cancer in men suggesting that the elevated risk associated with abdominal adiposity is not explained by increased body size (as measured by BMI) alone.
• Among women, the associations between waist circumference and BMI with obesity-related cancers were weaker and similar to each other.

IN PRACTICE:

“BMI is a measure of body size, but does not provide information on fat distribution, whereas waist circumference is a proxy more closely related to abdominal adiposity,” explained the authors, Ming Sun, MSc, Josef Fritz, PhD, and Tanja Stocks, PhD, from Lund University, Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues.

On the difference between men and women, the authors said, “A plausible explanation is that men are more likely to store fat viscerally, while women generally accumulate more subcutaneous and peripheral fat. Consequently, waist circumference is a more accurate measure of visceral fat in men than in women.” 

SOURCE:

Data based on a press release from the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) will be presented at this year’s ECO 2025, Malaga, Spain, May 11-14, and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

LIMITATIONS:

There was the potential for residual confounding in the study. Information on certain lifestyle factors — including diet, alcohol consumption, and physical activity — was lacking, as were data on the history of viral infections. In addition, data on female reproductive factors including parity and breastfeeding history were absent, meaning these factors could not be controlled for.

DISCLOSURES:

Co-author Stefan Söderberg received compensation for consultancy or speaking for Johnson & Johnson and Merck, outside the present work. The other authors reported no disclosures.