Men with more visceral fat than women, waist circumference than BMI, obesity-related cancer risk indicators
Mar 24, 2025
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This is the result of a follow-up survey of 339,000 people by a team led by Josef Fritz, a professor at Lund University in Sweden, on the relationship between BMI and waist circumference and obesity-related cancer risk. 339,190 Swedish residents (average age of 51.5 years) followed BMI and waist circumference data measured from 1981 to 2019 and Swedish National Cancer Registry records for an average of 14 years of association between BMI and waist circumference and obesity related cancer risk in men and women.
Esophagus (adenocarcinoma), stomach, colon, rectum, liver, intrahepatic bile duct, gallbladder, pancreas, breast, endometrium, ovary, renal cell carcinoma, meningioma, thyroid gland, and multiple myeloma, which were recognized as obesity related by the International Cancer Institute (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO), were included in the target cancer. We also calculated the relative risk of waist circumference and BMI for obesity-related cancers in men and women, taking into account the effects of age, smoking habits, education level, income, country of birth, and marital status. And because BMI and waist circumference use different units, relative risk was compared based on standard deviation (SD). For men, 1SD increases a BMI of 3.8 kg/㎡ or an increase in waist circumference of 10.8 cm, and for women, 1SD increases a BMI of 4.3 kg/㎡ or an increase in waist circumference of 11.8 cm.
A total of 18,185 obesity-related cancers occurred during the follow-up period.
In men, an increase in waist circumference by 1 SD (10.8 cm) increases the risk of obesity-related cancer by 25%. In comparison, an increase in BMI of 1SD (3.8 kg/㎡) increased the risk of developing cancer by 19%. Women have a 13% increased risk of obesity-related cancer when BMI and waist circumference increase by 1SD (4.3 kg/㎡, 11.8 cm), respectively, indicating that the effect of waist circumference and BMI is similar, and the association with cancer risk is weaker than that of men.
Regarding the difference between men and women, the research team said that men store a lot of fat around their intestines and women usually accumulate a lot of fat in their subcutaneous back, and waist circumference can be a stronger cancer risk factor because it can measure men's visceral fat more accurately than women. Abdominal obesity causes insulin resistance, inflammation, and dyslipidemia, and these metabolic changes can be stronger, especially in men, so waist circumference is likely to act as a stronger cancer risk factor in men. In addition, for women, waist and hip ratio (WHR) is likely to be a more accurate indicator of visceral fat than waist circumference, so it may be useful to include hip circumference (HC) measurements in future studies, he added.
Meanwhile, the results of the study, which will be presented at the EASO European Obesity Society (ECO 2025) in Malaga, Spain from May 11-14, will be published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
