Central Obesity Was Significantly Associated With Cancer Risk Among Adults Under the Age of 50: Evidence From a Nationally Representative Sample
Xinrui Ma, BS1; Lin Zhu, PhD1; Grace X. Ma, PhD, CHES1,2
1 Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2 Department of Clinical Sciences, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Introduction: In the past few decades, there has been an increase in the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors such as central obesity (waist circumference) and hypertension, as well as certain types of cancer among adults under the age of 50. This study used data of a nationally representative sample to examine how central obesity and hypertension are associated with cancer in adults under the age of 50.
Methods: We used data from the 2011–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to define a case-control sample to examine the association of central obesity and hypertension and cancer of any types. We used chi-square test and binary logistic regression to examine the associations. All analyses were conducted in Stata 14.
Results: In the total study sample of 17,969 adult participants, we identified 15,463 no-cancer cases, and 1,584 cancer cases. First, we found that central obesity was significantly associated with cancer risk in the total sample (odds ratio = 1.62, p = .02), with age, education, smoking, excessive drinking, and sleep duration held constant. However, hypertension was not significantly associated with cancer risks, when we controlled for the covariates in the regression.
Conclusion: This study findings suggested a potential elevated cancer risk among those with central obesity. Longitudinal data were needed to decide the causal relationship. Research is also needed to examine any racial/ethnic and gender differences in the association.
Acknowledgement: This project was supported by Center for Asian Health’s funds (PI: Grace X. Ma, PhD), and TUFCCC/HC Regional Comprehensive Cancer Health Disparity Partnership, Award Number U54 CA221704(5) (Contact PIs: Grace X. Ma, PhD and Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi, MD, PhD) from the National Cancer Institute of National Institutes of Health (NCI/NIH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NCI/NIH.
Email questions and comments about this abstract to tul12099@temple.edu.
