Body shape phenotypes of multiple anthropometric traits and cancer risk: a multi-national cohort study

Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in collaboration with researchers from the University of Regensburg (Germany) and other partner institutions, have found that four distinct body shapes were differentially associated with the risk of overall cancer and 17 site-specific cancers. These results appear in a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

A multivariate dimension reduction technique, called principal component analysis, was used to derive the body shapes from six anthropometric traits: height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. This resulted in four distinct body shapes that may better capture the heterogeneous expression of adiposity and its health consequences compared with single anthropometric traits because of the way they combine.

The study included 340 152 men and women from nine European countries, mostly aged 35–65 years at recruitment (in 1990–2000) into the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

A body shape that characterizes overall adiposity was positively associated with overall cancer risk, with a HR per 1 standard deviation increment of 1.07 (95% CI, 1.05–1.08), and with risk of 10 cancer types, with HRs (per 1 standard deviation) ranging from 1.36 (95% CI, 1.30–1.42) for endometrial cancer to 1.08 (95% CI, 1.03–1.13) for rectal cancer. A body shape that characterizes tall stature with a low waist-to-hip ratio was positively associated with overall cancer risk (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.02–1.04) and with risk of five cancer types. A body shape that characterizes tall stature with a high waist-to-hip ratio was positively associated with overall cancer risk (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.03–1.05) and with risk of 12 cancer types. An “athletic” body shape was not associated with overall cancer risk (HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99–1.01).

These findings suggest that the current cancer burden associated with adiposity and body size based on classic anthropometric traits is probably underestimated.

Sedlmeier AM, Viallon V, Ferrari P, Peruchet-Noray L, Fontvieille E, Amadou A, et al.
Body shape phenotypes of multiple anthropometric traits and cancer risk: a multi-national cohort study
Br J Cancer, Published online 2 December 2022;
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-02071-3

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