Body Mass Index In Young Adults Research Articles

Coronal Knee Malalignment in Young Adults and Its Link to Body Measures.

Our aim was to report the prevalence of knee varus-valgus malalignment (KVVM) and its association with body mass index (BMI) and body height in a healthy and fit young adult population. Information on the disability codes associated with KVVM according to the Regulations of Medical Fitness Determination was retrieved from a medical database containing records of 17-year-old males and females before their recruitment into mandatory military service. Logistic regression models assessed the association between the BMI and body height to KVVM. The study cohort included 821,381 subjects (460,674 males and 360,707 females). The prevalence of KVVM was 0.9% in males and 0.6% for females. Under/overweight subjects were associated with higher prevalence of KVVM. The odds ratios (ORs) had a "J" curve pattern, increasing for underweight males and females, and even more so for above-normal BMIs (for obese males and for both overweight and obese females). The strongest association was between obese females and KVVM: an obese female had an OR of 22.864 (confidence interval [CI] = 20.683-25.725, p < 0.001) to have KVVM and an obese male had an OR of 4.483 (CI = 4.158-4.833 p < 0.001). When the BMI was analyzed as a continuous variable, each increase in one BMI unit was associated with an increase in OR of 7.6% for males and 24.1% for females. There is a strong association between BMI and KVVM in both underweight and overweight young adults. KVVM is more common in males, but most strongly associated with overweight and obese females.This is a Level III, case-control study.

Body Mass, Total Body Fat Percentage, and Visceral Fat Level Predict Insulin Resistance Better Than Waist Circumference and Body Mass Index in Healthy Young Male Adults in Indonesia.

The incidence of obesity which leads to insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic disorder is increasing in developing countries, including Indonesia. Male adults have a higher risk of abdominal obesity than females. This is associated with cardiometabolic disorders. Several anthropometric measurements have been proposed to predict IR. The aim of this study was to investigate whether body mass, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), body fat percentage (BF) or visceral fat level (VF) could become a better predictor of IR in healthy young male adults. A total of 140 healthy young male adults ranging from 18–25 years were recruited in the study. Insulin resistance was measured by calculating their Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR). Subjects with a HOMA-IR value ≥75th percentile, with cut off 3.75, were defined as IR. Anthropometric measurements including body weight, BMI, and WC were performed, whereas BF and VC were measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). IR had a strong correlation with body weight, BMI, WC, BF, and VF. In the area under the curve of body mass, BF and VF were slightly greater than WC and BMI. Anthropometric measurements correlated strongly with IR but body weight, BF, VF had a stronger correlation than WC and BMI in healthy young male adults.

Associations of body adiposity index, waist circumference, and body mass index in young adults

The Body Adiposity Index (BAI) is an anthropometric measure developed to estimate body composition in field settings. Although this novel measure has been validated against clinical measures of adiposity (%Fat), the relative accuracy of other anthropometric measures, such as Body Mass Index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC), have not been assessed in comparison to the BAI using a 4-compartment (4C) model. The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between BMI, WC, BAI, and %Fat in young adults, and determine the relative accuracy of each anthropometric measure when predicting %Fat. BMI, WC, and BAI were assessed in a sample of young adults (n=188, 48.4% female, 21.8±4.8 years). %Fat assessed using the 4C model was derived from underwater weighing for body density, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry for bone mineral content, and bioimpedance spectroscopy for total body water. Bivariate associations were assessed using Pearson's r, with the relative accuracy of each measure assessed using multivariate linear regression and compared using Akaike's information criterion, R2 and ΔR2 statistics. BMI, WC, and BAI were associated with %Fat (r=0.192, 0.194, and 0.668, respectively, all p<.01). WC and BAI collectively explained 46.3% of the variation in %Fat, and removing BAI significantly reduced model fit (p<.001). When stratified by sex, BAI provided greater accuracy when predicting %Fat beyond WC in men (ΔR2=2.6%, p=.022), but not women (ΔR2=2.1%, p=.078). WC and BAI are more strongly associated with %Fat as measured by the 4C model than BMI in young adults.

Body mass index throughout adulthood, physical activity, and risk of multiple myeloma: a prospective analysis in three large cohorts

BackgroundObesity is the only known modifiable multiple myeloma (MM) risk factor. However, the influence of obesity in earlier or later adulthood and the role of other energy balance correlates in MM development are unclear.MethodsWe leveraged repeatedly updated data from the Nurses’ Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and Women’s Health Study cohorts to further explore energy balance measures in MM etiology. Exposures derived from questionnaires included young adult body mass index (BMI), cumulative average BMI, BMI change since young adulthood, and cumulative average physical activity and walking. We assessed MM risk related to those variables with Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsWe observed 575 incident MM cases in over five million person-years of follow-up across the cohorts. In pooled analyses, MM risk increased 17% per 5 kg/m2 increase in cumulative average BMI (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 1.29) and 28% per 5 kg/m2 increase in young adult BMI (CI: 1.12, 1.47); adjustment for BMI change since young adulthood did not affect either association. BMI change since young adulthood and cumulative average physical activity and walking were not significantly associated with MM risk.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that a high BMI in early and later adulthood are risk factors for MM.

The positive association of infant weight gain with adulthood body mass index has strengthened over time in the Fels Longitudinal Study.

Infant weight gain is positively related to adulthood body mass index (BMI), but it is unknown whether or not this association is stronger for individuals born during (compared with before) the obesity epidemic. The aim of the study was to examine how the infant weight gain-adulthood BMI association might have changed across successive birth year cohorts spanning most of the 20th century. The sample comprised 346 participants in the Fels Longitudinal Study. Confounder-adjusted regression models were used to test the associations of conditional weight-for-length Z-score, capturing weight change between ages 0-2years, with young adulthood BMI and blood pressure, including cohort [1933-1949 {N=137}, 1950-1969 {N=108}, 1970-1997 {N=101}] as an effect modifier. Conditional weight-for-length Z-score was positively related to adulthood BMI, but there was significant effect modification by birth year cohort such that the association was over two times stronger in the 1970-1997 cohort (β 2.31; 95% confidence interval 1.59, 3.03) compared with the 1933-1949 (0.98; 0.31, 1.65) and 1950-1969 (0.87; 0.21, 1.54) cohorts. A similar pattern was found for systolic blood pressure. The infant weight gain-adulthood BMI association was over two times stronger among a cohort born during the obesity epidemic era compared with cohorts born earlier in the 20th century.

Two dopaminergic genes, DRD4 and SLC6A3, are associated with body mass index in a Colombian sample of young adults

Obesity is becoming an epidemic in Latin American countries. Genetic analyses of endophenotypes for obesity, such as body mass index (BMI), are quite useful for research. In this study, we analysed two functional polymorphisms in the dopamine receptor 4 (DRD4) and dopamine transporter (SLC6A3) genes. A sample of 232 Colombian young subjects were recruited and evaluated for BMI. Two functional polymorphisms in the DRD4 and SLC6A3 and genes were genotyped by PCR and electrophoresis. A significant association was found between BMI and the polymorphisms in DRD4 and SLC6A3 genes. DRD4 4/4 genotype was associated with a lower mean BMI and SLC6A3 10/10 genotype was associated with a higher mean BMI. Our work provides additional novel findings about the association of dopaminergic genes with BMI in healthy young adults. In addition, our study is one the first analyses of candidate genes for BMI in Latin American samples.

Body mass index trajectories in childhood is predictive of cardiovascular risk: results from the 23-year longitudinal Georgia Stress and Heart study.

The childhood high body mass index (BMI) is associated with cardiovascular risk, but the association between childhood BMI trajectory patterns and cardiovascular risk remains unclear. The purposes of this study are to identify subgroups of individuals with similar trajectories in BMI during childhood, and to determine the relationship of childhood BMI trajectories with subclinical cardiovascular disease in young adulthood, indexed by intima-media thickness (IMT) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI). The participants were from the Georgia Stress and Heart (GSH) study. A total of 626 participants with BMI measured 3–12 times during childhood (5–18 years old) were included. By using latent class models, three trajectory groups in BMI were identified, including high increasing (HI), moderate increasing (MI), and normal group. We found that childhood trajectory of BMI was significantly associated with IMT and LVMI in young adulthood even after adjustment for BMI in young adulthood. Our results suggested that different BMI trajectory patterns exist during childhood. We for the first time reported the association between childhood BMI trajectory patterns and subclinical cardiovascular risk in young adulthood, indicating that monitoring trajectories of BMI from childhood may help to identify a high cardiovascular risk population in early life.

Young adulthood and adulthood adiposity in relation to incidence of pancreatic cancer: a prospective study of 0.5 million Chinese adults and a meta-analysis

BackgroundAdult adiposity is positively associated with pancreatic cancer in Western populations. Little is known, however, about the association in China where many have lower body mass index (BMI) or about...

Subjective social status, life course SES, and BMI in young adulthood.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with many aspects of health and well-being, including body mass index (BMI). Most research in this area has focused on objective indicators of SES such as education and income, but recent work suggests that subjective social status (SSS) is also important. This study contributes to a growing body of research on SSS and BMI. Data from Waves I and IV the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a study of 14,780 individuals followed from adolescence to young adulthood, were analyzed. Analyses showed that (a) SSS was inversely associated with BMI among young adults, (b) objective SES in both adulthood and early life explained about half of this relationship, (c) SSS appeared to offer a partial explanation for the association between SES (in both adulthood and early life) and BMI, (d) health behaviors, psychological characteristics, self-rated health, and perceived stress explained part of the relationship between SSS and BMI after controlling for SES and other covariates, and (e) SSS had a residual association with BMI that was not accounted for by any of the variables in the full model. This work shows that SSS is important because it (a) has an independent association with BMI net of SES, which suggests that it captures unique aspects of social and economic conditions missed by objective indicators of SES and (b) may help link SES with BMI through perceptions of one's place in the status hierarchy of society. (PsycINFO Database Record

Young Adult and Usual Adult Body Mass Index and Multiple Myeloma Risk: A Pooled Analysis in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (IMMC).

Background: Multiple myeloma risk increases with higher adult body mass index (BMI). Emerging evidence also supports an association of young adult BMI with multiple myeloma. We undertook a pooled analysis of eight case-control studies to further evaluate anthropometric multiple myeloma risk factors, including young adult BMI.Methods: We conducted multivariable logistic regression analysis of usual adult anthropometric measures of 2,318 multiple myeloma cases and 9,609 controls, and of young adult BMI (age 25 or 30 years) for 1,164 cases and 3,629 controls.Results: In the pooled sample, multiple myeloma risk was positively associated with usual adult BMI; risk increased 9% per 5-kg/m2 increase in BMI [OR, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.14; P = 0.007]. We observed significant heterogeneity by study design (P = 0.04), noting the BMI-multiple myeloma association only for population-based studies (Ptrend = 0.0003). Young adult BMI was also positively associated with multiple myeloma (per 5-kg/m2; OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3; P = 0.0002). Furthermore, we observed strong evidence of interaction between younger and usual adult BMI (Pinteraction <0.0001); we noted statistically significant associations with multiple myeloma for persons overweight (25-<30 kg/m2) or obese (30+ kg/m2) in both younger and usual adulthood (vs. individuals consistently <25 kg/m2), but not for those overweight or obese at only one time period.Conclusions: BMI-associated increases in multiple myeloma risk were highest for individuals who were overweight or obese throughout adulthood.Impact: These findings provide the strongest evidence to date that earlier and later adult BMI may increase multiple myeloma risk and suggest that healthy BMI maintenance throughout life may confer an added benefit of multiple myeloma prevention. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(6); 876-85. ©2017 AACR.

Highlights of This Issue

Colorectal cancer screening studies by multitarget stool DNA (MT-sDNA) show false-positive (FP) rates of 7% to 13%, but it is unclear whether FP patients are at increased long-term risk of adverse outcomes. Cotter and colleagues compared subsequent clinical events among patients with apparent FP MT-sDNA with those in patients reported as true negative. Of 1,050 eligible patients, only eight aerodigestive cancers occurred. Cumulative incidence did not exceed SEER expectations from the general population. By any cutoff method, FP status was not associated with mortality or alarm symptoms. These findings do not justify aggressive follow-up evaluation for patients with FP MT-sDNA.Stomach cancer incidence in the United States is highest among Korean Americans. To parcel this disparity, Lee and colleagues examined stomach cancer incidence trends in Korean Americans by tumor subsite, histology, and stage, and compared them with incidence rates of Japanese Americans and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs). Between 1988 and 2012 in California, Korean Americans had about 5 times greater incidence than NHWs and twice that of Japanese Americans. Although Korean Americans were diagnosed at an earlier stage than other Californians, the proportion with localized disease (43%) was much smaller than in South Korea (57%), where population-based screening is available. The persistent disparity warrants additional strategies for prevention and earlier diagnosis.Recent studies suggest a higher risk of gallbladder cancer with high body mass index (BMI). Campbell and colleagues evaluated associations of adult BMI, young adult BMI, height, waist–height ratio, hip circumference, waist–hip ratio, adult weight gain, and waist circumference with gallbladder cancer risk. Data from 1,878,801 participants in 19 prospective cohort studies were included in this analysis. Higher adult BMI, young adult BMI, adult weight gain, height, waist circumference, waist–height ratio, and hip circumference were all associated with higher risks of gallbladder cancer. Excess body weight is an important, and potentially preventable, gallbladder cancer risk factor.Do melanoma survivors alter their ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure following a melanoma diagnosis? To explore this, Vogel and colleagues compared measures of UVR exposure and protection behaviors between long-term melanoma survivors and controls. A total of 724 (62.0%) long-term melanoma survivors and 660 (59.9%) controls completed the follow-up survey. Melanoma survivors were significantly less likely to report high sun exposure, sunburns, or indoor tanning compared with controls. Report of optimal sun protection behaviors were higher in melanoma survivors compared to controls. However, some melanoma survivors reported indoor tanning, intentionally seeking sun to tan, and sunburns.

Body Size Indicators and Risk of Gallbladder Cancer: Pooled Analysis of Individual-Level Data from 19 Prospective Cohort Studies.

Background: There are few established risk factors for gallbladder cancer beyond gallstones. Recent studies suggest a higher risk with high body mass index (BMI), an indicator of general heaviness, but evidence from other body size measures is lacking.Methods: Associations of adult BMI, young adult BMI, height, adult weight gain, waist circumference (WC), waist-height ratio (WHtR), hip circumference (HC), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) with gallbladder cancer risk were evaluated. Individual-level data from 1,878,801 participants in 19 prospective cohort studies (14 studies had circumference measures) were harmonized and included in this analysis. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: After enrollment, 567 gallbladder cancer cases were identified during 20.1 million person-years of observation, including 361 cases with WC measures. Higher adult BMI (per 5 kg/m2, HR: 1.24; 95% CI, 1.13-1.35), young adult BMI (per 5 kg/m2, HR: 1.12; 95% CI, 1.00-1.26), adult weight gain (per 5 kg, HR: 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.12), height (per 5 cm, HR: 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.17), WC (per 5 cm, HR: 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02-1.17), WHtR (per 0.1 unit, HR: 1.24; 95% CI, 1.00-1.54), and HC (per 5 cm, HR: 1.13; 95% CI, 1.04-1.22), but not WHR (per 0.1 unit, HR: 1.03; 95% CI, 0.87-1.22), were associated with higher risks of gallbladder cancer, and results did not differ meaningfully by sex or other demographic/lifestyle factors.Conclusions: These findings indicate that measures of overall and central excess body weight are associated with higher gallbladder cancer risks.Impact: Excess body weight is an important, and potentially preventable, gallbladder cancer risk factor. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(4); 597-606. ©2017 AACR.

The Longitudinal Relation Between Accumulation of Adverse Life Events and Body Mass Index From Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood.

Stressors, such as adverse life events, can cause weight changes through behavioral and biological mechanisms. Whether the accumulation of adverse life events is related to body mass index (BMI) across multiple time points from early adolescence to young adulthood has not been investigated to date. Data are from 2188 children participating at T1 (10-12 years), T3 (14-18 years), and/or T5 (21-23 years) of the prospective Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey cohort study. Adverse events before T1 and between T1, T3, and T5 were measured with a parent interview at T1 and a semistructured interview (Event History Calendar) with the adolescent at T3 and T5. An adverse events score was calculated per wave. Body mass index z-scores were determined from objectively measured height and weight using the LMS (skewness, median, and coefficient of variation) reference curves of the International Obesity Task Force for children 18 years or younger. Data were analyzed using a modified bivariate autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation model. Adverse events before T1 and between T3 and T5 were related to BMI at T5 (β = 0.06, p = .001 and β = -0.04, p = .04, respectively). Specifically, health events before T1 were associated with a higher BMI at T5, and events related to relationships and victimhood events between T3 and T5 were associated with a lower BMI at T5. Adverse relationship and victimhood events in their recent past were related to a lower BMI in young adults, whereas adverse health events during childhood were related to a higher BMI in young adults. No relationships were found between adverse life events with BMI in children and adolescents.

Self‐reported vs. Measured Height and Weight in Young Adults

IntroductionObesity is recognized as a worldwide public health concern. It is most commonly assessed and classified using Body Mass Index (BMI). Historical data says that adults tend to under‐report their own weight and that the gap between self‐reported weight and actual weight increases with obesity. Few studies have examined how well young adults report their own height and weight.ObjectiveThis study investigates self‐reported height, weight and subsequent BMI versus actual measurements in young adults.MethodsOver 1,500 students across 8 U.S. universities provided their height and weight via a survey. Measurements were subsequently taken by trained professionals; both self‐reported and measured BMI were then calculated for each participant. Correlations between self‐reported and measured BMI were assessed using Spearman's rho. Kappa coefficient was used to test agreement between categorical variables of self‐reported and actual calculated BMI (i.e. underweight, normal, overweight, obese).ResultsMale and female students both underestimated their height, with males overall under‐reporting more than males. Males reported an average height of 166.4 ± 12.1 cm versus an actual average height of 175.3 ± 7.8. Females reported an average height of 157.1 ± 7.2 cm versus an actual average height of 164.6 ± 7.1 cm. Males slightly overestimated their weight, with an average self‐reported weight of 76.8 ±14.5 kg versus an actual average weight of 76.2 ± 15.7 kg. Females slightly underestimated their weight with an average self‐reported weight of 65.2 ± 14.4 kg versus an actual average weight of 65.7 ± 15.3 kg. However, the self‐reported measurements remained statistically correlated to the actual height, weight and BMI in both genders (males rs = 0.79, &lt;0.0001, rs = 0.91, &lt;0.0001 and rs = 0.83, &lt;0.0001 respectively; females rs = 0.78, &lt;0.0001, rs = 0.91, &lt;0.0001 and rs = 0.76, &lt;0.0001 respectively). Additionally, categorical variables of BMI from both self‐reported and actual height and weight resulted in significant agreement for both genders (Males κ = −0.09 (95% CI, −0.12 to −0.04), p &lt; .0001; Females κ = −0.04 (95% CI, −0.07 to −0.01), p = .004).ConclusionsThis study suggests self‐reported anthropometric measurements in young adults can be used to calculate BMI for weight classification purposes. Further investigation is needed to better assess self‐reported vs. measured height and weight discrepancies across populations.Support or Funding InformationApproval to use the data set was granted by the University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board prior to study implementation. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2014‐67001‐21851.

Heavy childhood television use persists into young adulthood and is associated with increased BMI.

To test whether TV use has both concurrent effects on body mass index (BMI) at the time of survey interviews and long-term, enduring effects via the promotion of future levels of TV use. Two waves of survey data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics were used to test relationships between TV use and BMI among a nationally representative sample of children and their parents (n = 1,421). Path analysis was used to model effects of childhood (1997) levels of TV use and BMI on the same variables 14 years later (2011). Path analysis showed childhood TV use was associated positively with childhood BMI (β = 0.08, P < 0.05), and young adult TV use was related positively to young adult BMI (β = 0.10, P < 0.01). Heavy childhood TV use also persisted into young adulthood (β = 0.15, P < 0.001), indirectly increasing young adult BMI (β = 0.02, P < 0.05). Heavy childhood TV users tend to become heavy young adult users. The continuation of TV behavior from childhood to young adulthood independently increases BMI.

Anthropometric Factors and Thyroid Cancer Risk by Histological Subtype: Pooled Analysis of 22 Prospective Studies.

Greater height and body mass index (BMI) have been associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer, particularly papillary carcinoma, the most common and least aggressive subtype. Few studies have evaluated these associations in relation to other, more aggressive histologic types or thyroid cancer-specific mortality. This large pooled analysis of 22 prospective studies (833,176 men and 1,260,871 women) investigated thyroid cancer incidence associated with greater height, BMI at baseline and young adulthood, and adulthood BMI gain (difference between young-adult and baseline BMI), overall and separately by sex and histological subtype using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. Associations with thyroid cancer mortality were investigated in a subset of cohorts (578,922 men and 774,373 women) that contributed cause of death information. During follow-up, 2996 incident thyroid cancers and 104 thyroid cancer deaths were identified. All anthropometric factors were positively associated with thyroid cancer incidence: hazard ratios (HR) [confidence intervals (CIs)] for height (per 5 cm) = 1.07 [1.04-1.10], BMI (per 5 kg/m2) = 1.06 [1.02-1.10], waist circumference (per 5 cm) = 1.03 [1.01-1.05], young-adult BMI (per 5 kg/m2) = 1.13 [1.02-1.25], and adulthood BMI gain (per 5 kg/m2) = 1.07 [1.00-1.15]. Associations for baseline BMI and waist circumference were attenuated after mutual adjustment. Baseline BMI was more strongly associated with risk in men compared with women (p = 0.04). Positive associations were observed for papillary, follicular, and anaplastic, but not medullary, thyroid carcinomas. Similar, but stronger, associations were observed for thyroid cancer mortality. The results suggest that greater height and excess adiposity throughout adulthood are associated with higher incidence of most major types of thyroid cancer, including the least common but most aggressive form, anaplastic carcinoma, and higher thyroid cancer mortality. Potential underlying biological mechanisms should be explored in future studies.

Is infant body mass index associated with adulthood body composition trajectories? An exploratory analysis.

Infant body mass index (BMI) is increasingly used as a marker of obesity risk based on its association with young-adulthood BMI. The aim of this study is to test the association of infant BMI with young-adulthood fat mass and fat-free mass, and how this association changes during advancing adulthood. Body mass index Z-score at age 9 months was measured in 350 White, non-Hispanic Fels Longitudinal Study participants. This exposure was entered into multilevel models to test its association with trajectories describing 2665 BMI observations and 1388 observations of fat mass index (FMI, kg m-2 ) and fat-free mass index (FFMI, kg m-2 ) between ages 20 and 60 years. Partitioning young-adulthood BMI into its fat and fat-free components, infant BMI Z-score was associated with FFMI (β = 0.745; 95% confidence interval = 0.367 to 1.124) but not FMI (0.528; -0.055 to 1.110) at age 20 years. Greater infant BMI Z-score was associated with slower age-related increases in all outcomes, such that (looking at 10-year intervals) only FFMI at age 30 years was related to infant BMI Z-score (0.338; 0.119, 0.557). Focus on infant BMI reduction for adulthood obesity prevention warrants caution as high infant BMI values are associated with greater lean mass, which is protective against ageing changes.

Body mass index in young adulthood, obesity trajectory, and premature mortality.

Although much research has been conducted on the role adult body mass index (BMI) plays in mortality, there have been fewer studies that evaluated the associations of BMI in young adulthood and adult weight trajectory with mortality, and it remains uncertain whether associations differ by race or sex. We prospectively examined the relationships of BMI in young adulthood (21 years of age) and adult obesity trajectory with later-life mortality rates among 75,881 men and women in the Southern Community Cohort Study. Study participants were enrolled between 2002 and 2009 at ages 40-79 years and were followed through December, 2011. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. There were 7,301 deaths in the 474,970 person-years of follow-up. Participants who reported being overweight or obese as young adults had mortality rates that were 19% (95% confidence interval: 12, 27) and 64% (95% confidence interval: 52, 78) higher, respectively, than those of their normal weight counterparts. The results did not significantly differ by race or sex. Participants who reported being obese in young adulthood only or in both young and middle adulthood experienced mortality rates that were 40%-90% higher than those of participants who were nonobese at either time. These results suggest that obesity in young adulthood is associated with higher mortality risk regardless of race, sex, and obesity status in later life.

Overall and abdominal adiposity and premenopausal breast cancer risk among hispanic women: the breast cancer health disparities study.

Few studies in Hispanic women have examined the relation between adult body size and risk of premenopausal breast cancer defined by hormone receptor status. The Breast Cancer Health Disparities Study pooled interview and anthropometric data from two large U.S. population-based case-control studies. We examined associations of overall and abdominal adiposity with risk of estrogen receptor- and progesterone receptor-positive (ER(+)PR(+)) and -negative (ER(-)PR(-)) breast cancer in Hispanic and non-Hispanic White (NHW) women, calculating ORs and 95% confidence intervals. Among Hispanics, risk of ER(+)PR(+) breast cancer was inversely associated with measures of overall adiposity, including young-adult and current body mass index (BMI). Risk was substantially reduced among those with high (above the median) young-adult BMI and current overweight or obesity. The findings for overall adiposity were similar for Hispanics and NHWs. In the subset of Hispanics with data on genetic ancestry, inverse associations of current BMI, and weight gain with ER(+)PR(+) breast cancer were limited to those with lower Indigenous American ancestry. For ER(-)PR(-) breast cancer, height was associated with increased risk, and young-adult BMI was associated with reduced risk. For all breast cancers combined, positive associations were seen for waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist-to-height ratio in Hispanic women only. Our findings of body size associations with specific breast cancer subtypes among premenopausal Hispanic women were similar to those reported for NHW women. Adiposity throughout the premenopausal years has a major influence on breast cancer risk in Hispanic women.

Body size throughout adult life influences postmenopausal breast cancer risk among hispanic women: the breast cancer health disparities study.

Few studies have assessed the association of body size with postmenopausal breast cancer risk in Hispanic women. Findings are inconsistent and appear to contradict those reported for non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. We pooled interview and anthropometric data for 2,023 Hispanic and 2,384 NHW women from two U.S. population-based case-control studies. Using logistic regression analysis, we examined associations of overall and abdominal adiposity with risk of postmenopausal breast cancer defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Weight gain was associated with increased risk of ER(+)PR(+) breast cancer in Hispanics not currently using menopausal hormone therapy (HT), but only among those with a low young-adult body mass index (BMI). In the subset of Hispanics with data on genetic ancestry, the association with weight gain was limited to women with lower Indigenous American ancestry. Young-adult BMI was inversely associated with both ER(+)PR(+) and ER(-)PR(-) breast cancers for both ethnicities combined, with similar, although nonsignificant, inverse trends in Hispanics and NHWs. Among all Hispanics, regardless of HT use, height was associated with risk of ER(-)PR(-) breast cancer and hip circumference with risk of breast cancer overall. Body size throughout adult life is associated with breast cancer risk among postmenopausal Hispanic women, as has been reported for NHW women. Associations were specific for breast cancer subtypes defined by hormone receptor status. Avoiding weight gain and maintaining a healthy weight are important strategies to reduce the risk of postmenopausal ER(+)PR(+) breast cancer, the most common breast cancer subtype.