Body mass index and the risk of head and neck cancer in the Chinese population

Yuji Chen; Yuan-Chin Amy Lee; Shuang Li; Qian Li; Chien-Jen Chen; Wan-Lun Hsu; Pen-Jen Lou; Cairong Zhu; Jian Pan; Hongbing Shen; Hongxia Ma; Lin Cai; Baochang He; Yu Wang; Xiaoyan Zhou; Qinghai Ji; Baosen Zhou; Wei Wu; Jie Ma; Daisuke Kawakita; Paolo Boffetta; Zuo-Feng Zhang; Min Dai; Mia Hashibe

doi:10.1016/j.canep.2019.04.008

Body mass index and the risk of head and neck cancer in the Chinese population

Cancer Epidemiol. 2019 Jun:60:208-215. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2019.04.008. Epub 2019 May 7.

Authors

Yuji Chen¹, Yuan-Chin Amy Lee¹, Shuang Li¹, Qian Li², Chien-Jen Chen³, Wan-Lun Hsu⁴, Pen-Jen Lou⁵, Cairong Zhu⁶, Jian Pan⁷, Hongbing Shen⁸, Hongxia Ma⁸, Lin Cai⁹, Baochang He⁹, Yu Wang¹⁰, Xiaoyan Zhou¹¹, Qinghai Ji¹⁰, Baosen Zhou¹², Wei Wu¹², Jie Ma¹³, Daisuke Kawakita¹⁴, Paolo Boffetta¹⁵, Zuo-Feng Zhang¹⁶, Min Dai¹⁷, Mia Hashibe¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Division of Public Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
² Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
³ Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Otolaryngology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China.
⁷ Department of Oral Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Jiangsu key lab of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, China.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fujian, China.
¹⁰ Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
¹¹ Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China.
¹² Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Liaoning, China.
¹³ Department of Head & Neck Oncology, Henan Cancer Hospital, Henan, China.
¹⁴ Division of Public Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan.
¹⁵ Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Center for Environmental Genomics, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁷ National Office of Cancer Prevention & Control Cancer Institute & Hospital, and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹⁸ Division of Public Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Electronic address: mia.hashibe@utah.edu.

PMID: 31071526
DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2019.04.008

Abstract

Objective: To investigate potential associations between body mass index (BMI) and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk in an East Asian population.

Methods: We conducted a hospital-based multicenter case-control study in East Asia including 921 cases and 806 controls. We estimated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for HNC risks by using logistic regression, adjusting on potential confounders.

Results: Compared to normal BMI at interview (18.5-<25 kg/m²), being underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m²) was associated with a higher HNC risk (OR = 2.71, 95% CI 1.40-5.26). Additionally, obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m²) was associated with a lower HNC risk (OR = 0.30, 95% CI 0.16-0.57). Being underweight at age 20 was also associated with an increased risk of HNC. However, being underweight at 5 years or 2 years before interview was not associated with a higher risk of HNC.

Conclusion: We observed an inverse association between BMI and HNC risk, which is consistent with previous studies in other geographic regions. Being underweight at age 20 was also associated with a higher risk of HNC, suggesting that reverse causality was not the main source of the association.

Keywords: BMI; East Asia; Head and neck cancer risk.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Asian People
Body Mass Index*
Case-Control Studies
Female
Head and Neck Neoplasms / etiology*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Risk Factors
Young Adult

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding