Title

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

DOI

10.1002/oby.23290

Publisher

Wiley

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