A study published in The Lancet Public Health found that six obesity-related cancers are on the rise among young adults (25-49 years): multiple myeloma (MM), colorectal, uterine corpus, gallbladder, kidney, and pancreatic cancer. In contrast, six obesity-related cancers that did not increase in this patient population were breast, esophageal, gastric cardia, liver and intrahepatic bile duct, thyroid, and ovarian cancer.
Researchers assessed incidence data for invasive cancers among individuals 25 to 84 years old who were diagnosed between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 2014, for 25 population-based U.S. state registries. They considered the 20 most common cancer types and 12 obesity-related cancers, for 30 total cancers.
The pancreatic and thyroid cancer graphs 👇🏻. Wow. https://t.co/vY7XYVedeq
— Eric Rawson, Ph.D. 🎅🏻 (@EricRawsonPhD) February 4, 2019
During this time, there were 14,672,409 incident cases for 30 types of cancer. Incidence significantly increased for the six previously mentioned cancers, with steeper rises in successively younger generations. Annual increases ranged from 1.44% (95% CI, −0.60-3.53) for MM to 6.23% (95% CI, 5.32-7.14) for kidney cancer for patients 25 to 29 years, and ranged from 0.37% (95% CI, 0.03-0.72) for uterine corpus cancer to 2.95% (95% CI, 2.74-3.16) for kidney cancer for patients 45 to 49 years.
In a US study, incidence of obesity-related cancer (myeloma, colorectal, uterine, gallbladder, kidney, pancreatic) increased through successive generations, especially among younger adults. Most non-obesity related cancers did not show this pattern.https://t.co/P5Dtua9NlA
— Dr. David Ludwig (@davidludwigmd) February 4, 2019
Compared with people born around 1950, incidence rate ratios for those born around 1985 ranged from 1.59 (95% CI, 1.14-2.21) for MM to 4.91 (95% CI, 4.27-5.65) for kidney cancer. Conversely, incidence in young adults increased in successively younger generations for only two cancers (gastric non-cardia cancer and leukemia) and decreased for eight of the 18 additional cancers.
Metabolism matters! Are #Obesity and #Cancer linked ? Emerging cancer trends among young adults in the USA: analysis of a population-based cancer registry – The Lancet Public Health #DFCI #DFImaging #CancerCare https://t.co/gKgxPTfHdV
— Gabriela Spilberg, MD (@GabiSpil) February 4, 2019
Despite this, the study does not determine a causal relationship between obesity and cancer.
“The risk of developing an obesity-related cancer seems to be increasing in a stepwise manner in successively younger birth cohorts in the [United States],” the researchers concluded.
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Source: The Lancet Public Health
