Woman on a scale
Cancers associated with being overweight or obese accounted for about 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the US in 2014, according to the latest Vital Signs report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified 13 cancers associated with overweight and obesity—multiple myeloma (MM), meningioma, adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, and thyroid, postmenopausal breast, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreatic, kidney, ovarian, uterine, and colorectal cancers.
For the Vital Signs report, researchers reviewed US data from 2005 to 2014 to determine trends for cancers associated with being overweight (having a body mass index [BMI] of 25 to 29.9 kg/m2) or obese (having a BMI of 30 kg/m2 and higher).
In 2014, roughly 631,000 people were diagnosed with cancers associated with overweight and obesity, which represents 40% of all cancers diagnosed.
Fifty-five percent of all cancers diagnosed in women and 24% of those diagnosed in men were associated with overweight and obesity.
Incidence rates of the 13 cancers combined were highest in non-Hispanic blacks, followed by non-Hispanic whites, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and Asians/Pacific Islanders.
Incidence over time
Overall, the incidence of cancers associated with overweight and obesity decreased 2% from 2005 to 2014.
However, when colorectal cancer was excluded, the incidence of the other 12 cancers combined increased 7% from 2005 to 2014. The incidence of colorectal cancer decreased 23% during that time. Researchers said this was due, in large part, to screening.
The incidence of cancers not associated with overweight and obesity decreased 13% from 2005 to 2014.
The incidence of MM increased over the period studied, but it was not a significant increase. The incidence rate of MM was 5.6 per 100,000 persons (age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population) in 2005 and 6.0 per 100,000 persons in 2014.
So overall, there was an 8% increase in MM incidence rate from 2005 to 2014, or a 1.1% average annual increase. There was a 2% increase in the risk of MM per 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI.
Like MM, 3 other cancers had fairly stable incidence rates over the study period—adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, gallbladder cancer, and postmenopausal breast cancer.
However, incidence rates increased significantly each year for thyroid cancer (4.0% per year), liver cancer (2.9%), gastric cardia cancer (1.2%), endometrial cancer (1.1%), pancreatic cancer (0.8%), and kidney cancer (0.7%).
And incidence rates decreased significantly each year for meningioma (-3.8%), colorectal cancer (-2.9%), and ovarian cancer (-2.0%).
