Abstract B01: Body fatness throughout life and the incidence of endometrial cancer

Abstract

Abstract Background: Although adult obesity is known to increase endometrial cancer (EC) risk, evidence for the role of childhood obesity is limited. We prospectively examined the association between body fatness throughout the life-course and EC risk. Design: Participants, 47,289 members (527 cases) of the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), and 105,386 members (130 cases) of the Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II) recalled their body fatness at ages 5, 10, and 20 using a nine-level pictogram. Childhood and adolescent body fatness were the average between ages 5 and 10, and ages 10 and 20, respectively. We obtained weight from biennial questionnaires and calculated relative risks (RR) of EC using Cox proportional hazards models. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: In the NHS, body fatness was associated with EC at age 10, adolescence, age 20, and adulthood, but not at age 5 or childhood (RR for EC comparing most overweight to least overweight in adolescence was 1.51, 95% CI 1.08-2.11, Ptrend 0.02). For NHS II, the associations were stronger (RR, comparing most overweight to least overweight in adolescence was 2.91, 95% CI 1.83-5.98, Ptrend <0.001). However, after adjusting for current body mass index (BMI), none of the associations persisted (NHS: RR was 0.93, 95% CI 0.65-1.32 Ptrend 0.40; NHS II: RR was 1.14, 95% CI 0.59-2.20, Ptrend 0.73). The association between adult BMI and EC was similar across both cohorts. Conclusion: These findings indicate that body fatness in early life is not independently associated with endometrial cancer risk. Citation Format: Marcelle M. Dougan, Immaculata De Vivo, Shelley S. Tworoger, Susan E. Hankinson, Karin B. Michels. Body fatness throughout life and the incidence of endometrial cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr B01.