Duration of overweight linked to cancer risk

The length of time that a woman spends of her adulthood as overweight or obese is directly linked to the development of a range of cancers. Up until now many studies that have looked at the associated risk between cancer and obesity have been cross-sectional, meaning that multiple measurements over a period of time haven’t been analysed. This study examined the BMI measurements of around 74,000 women and its association with cancer risk. They also took into account other compounding factors such as physical activity, diet, smoking and medications.

They found that for every 10 years that a person spent as overweight their risk of developing all obesity related cancers increased by 7%, a 5% increase in breast cancer risk and a 17% increase in the risk of endometrial cancer. The authors are keen to show that the health care teams should recognise that cancer prevention should be a part of obesity management. This study focused solely on women and the results for a similar study in men would be interesting.