Obesity and Cancer Death in White and Black Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2021

Publication Title

Obesity

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether race modifies the association between obesity and cancer death. Methods: The Pennington Center Longitudinal Study included 18,296 adults; 35.0% were male and 34.3% were Black. The primary end point was death from cancer. Results: During a follow-up of 14.3 years, 346 cancer deaths occurred. Among men, race modified the association of BMI and cancer death (pinteraction = 0.045); compared with a BMI of 22 kg/m2, a BMI of 35 in White men was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.74 (95% CI: 1.38-2.21), and in Black men, the hazard ratio was 0.64 (95% CI: 0.45-0.90). Among women, race did not modify the association of BMI and cancer death (pinteraction=0.43); however, compared with a BMI of 22, a BMI of 35 in White women was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.42 (95% CI: 1.18-1.70) and in Black women, the hazard ratio was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.82-1.20). Conclusions: In this diverse cohort of adults, having obesity was associated with an increased risk of cancer death in White men and women. In contrast, having obesity was associated with a reduced risk of cancer death in Black men and did not influence risk in Black women.

First Page

2119

Last Page

2125

PubMed ID

34693655

Volume

29

Issue

12

Publisher

Wiley

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