Obesity and risk of pancreatic cancer among postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative (United States)

2008

Obesity and Pancreatic Cancer Risk in Postmenopausal Women

Sample size: 138503 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Luo J, Margolis K L, Adami H-O, LaCroix A, Ye W, For the Women's Health Initiative Investigators

Primary Institution: Institute of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University

Is central obesity a stronger risk factor for pancreatic cancer than general obesity in postmenopausal women?

Central obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer among postmenopausal women.

Women in the highest quintile of waist-to-hip ratio had a 70% excess risk of pancreatic cancer compared to those in the lowest quintile.
Only waist-to-hip ratio was significantly associated with pancreatic cancer risk among the tested anthropometric variables.
Risk increased by 27% per 0.1 increase in waist-to-hip ratio.

Being overweight around your belly can make you more likely to get pancreatic cancer, especially for older women.

The study followed 138,503 postmenopausal women for an average of 7.7 years to examine the relationship between obesity and pancreatic cancer risk.

Misclassification is likely non-differential with respect to anthropometric measurements.

There is a possibility of misclassification among the cases and potential weight loss due to undiagnosed disease.

Postmenopausal women aged 50-79, ethnically and geographically diverse.

0.0003

95% CI 10–160%

p<0.05

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