TY - JOUR
T1 - Leanness and squamous cell oesophageal cancer
AU - Gallus, S.
AU - La Vecchia, C.
AU - Levi, F.
AU - Simonato, L.
AU - Dal Maso, L.
AU - Franceschi, S.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Background: Squamous cell oesophageal cancer is one of the few neoplasms inversely related to body mass index (BMI). However, it is not clear whether this is due to cancer-related weight loss or to other correlates of leanness. Patients and methods: 395 incident, histologically confirmed cases of squamous cell oesophageal cancer and 1,066 controls, admitted for acute, non-neoplastic diseases, in Italy and Switzerland. Odds ratios (ORs) were derived from multiple logistic regression, including terms for education, tobacco, alcohol, non-alcohol energy, fruit and vegetable intake. Results: The ORs for the lowers vs. the highest quartile of BMI in the year before diagnosis were 2.0 in men, 1.6 in women, and 1.9 (95% confidence interval: 1.3-2.9) in both sexes combined. The association with leanness was stronger in heavy smokers, but was not accounted for by smoking and drinking, nor by differences in diet. Weight change in the decade prior to diagnosis showed no linear association with risk. However, cases were not leaner than controls at age 30 (OR = 0.6 for the lowest BMI quartile) and 50 (OR = 1.1). Conclusions: Leanness appears to be an indicator of squamous cell oesophageal carcinogenesis. However, low BMI in the distant past was unrelated to oesophageal cancer risk.
AB - Background: Squamous cell oesophageal cancer is one of the few neoplasms inversely related to body mass index (BMI). However, it is not clear whether this is due to cancer-related weight loss or to other correlates of leanness. Patients and methods: 395 incident, histologically confirmed cases of squamous cell oesophageal cancer and 1,066 controls, admitted for acute, non-neoplastic diseases, in Italy and Switzerland. Odds ratios (ORs) were derived from multiple logistic regression, including terms for education, tobacco, alcohol, non-alcohol energy, fruit and vegetable intake. Results: The ORs for the lowers vs. the highest quartile of BMI in the year before diagnosis were 2.0 in men, 1.6 in women, and 1.9 (95% confidence interval: 1.3-2.9) in both sexes combined. The association with leanness was stronger in heavy smokers, but was not accounted for by smoking and drinking, nor by differences in diet. Weight change in the decade prior to diagnosis showed no linear association with risk. However, cases were not leaner than controls at age 30 (OR = 0.6 for the lowest BMI quartile) and 50 (OR = 1.1). Conclusions: Leanness appears to be an indicator of squamous cell oesophageal carcinogenesis. However, low BMI in the distant past was unrelated to oesophageal cancer risk.
KW - Body mass index
KW - Drinking
KW - Oesophageal cancer
KW - Oral cancer
KW - Smoking
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1011104809985
DO - 10.1023/A:1011104809985
M3 - Article
C2 - 11521805
AN - SCOPUS:0034903285
VL - 12
SP - 975
EP - 979
JO - Annals of Oncology
JF - Annals of Oncology
SN - 0923-7534
IS - 7
ER -