Abstract 11600: Association Between Obesity and Risk of Total and Obesity-Related Cancer in Persons With Incident Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer often occur in the same people, in part due to shared risk factors. In a Global Burden of Disease analysis of cohorts from >180 countries, obesity was a top 3 modifiable risk factor for CVD and cancer. Beyond shared risk factors, CVD pathophysiologies may synergize with obesity to influence carcinogenesis. If so, an excess cancer risk in obese persons with CVD has implications for clinical management. Hypothesis: Obesity is positively associated with obesity-related cancer (ObCa) risk in persons with incident CVD independent of shared risk factors. Methods: We used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a cohort with 28 years of cancer follow-up. The analytic cohort was 5127 participants with incident CVD among whom 1511 were diagnosed with a first primary cancer. Follow up began at incident CVD diagnosis date after visit 1. Obesity was classified by BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) measured by trained technicians. We calculated incidence rate differences (RD) between obesity groups adjusted for age, sex, and center. The obesity-cancer association was estimated using Fine-Gray regression adjusted for shared risk factors, including smoking. Results: In people with CVD, cancer incidence was higher in the obese (BMI: RD=226.6/100,000 person-years) than normal weight group. In people with CVD, obesity was suggestively positively associated with ObCa (Table 1). In females with CVD, obesity was associated with increased ObCa risk. Associations were null in males, including after excluding prostate cancer. Conclusion: In this prospective study, obesity is positively associated with ObCa risk in women with incident CVD independent of shared risk factors. More work is needed to investigate why the association appeared in women only, and to identify possible mechanisms by which CVD pathophysiologies may interact with obesity to produce cancer risk.