Body size and obesity during adulthood, and risk of lympho-haematopoietic cancers: an update of the WCRF-AICR systematic review of published prospective studies

Background: To summarise the evidence on the associations between body mass index (BMI) and BMI in early adulthood, height, waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and risk of lympho-haematopoietic cancers.

Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of prospective studies and identified relevant studies published up to December 2017 by searching PubMed. A random-effects model was used to calculate dose–response summary relative risks (RRs).

Results: Our findings showed BMI, and BMI in early adulthood (aged 18–21 years) is associated with the risk of Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL and NHL), diffuse large beta-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Leukaemia including acute and chronic myeloid lymphoma (AML and CML), and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma (MM). The summary RR per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI were 1.12 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05–1.20] for HL, 1.05 (95% CI: 1.03–1.08) for NHL, 1.11 (95% CI: 1.05–1.16) for DLBCL, 1.06 (95% CI: 1.03–1.09) for ML, 1.09 (95% CI: 1.03–1.15) for leukaemia, 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04–1.24) for AML, 1.13 (95% CI: 1.05–1.22) for CML and 1.04 (95% CI: 1.00–1.09) for CLL, and were1.12 (95% CI: 1.05–1.19) for NHL, 1.22 (95% CI: 1.09–1.37) for DLBCL, and 1.19 (95% CI: 1.03–1.38) for FL for BMI in early adulthood analysis. Results on mortality showed a 15%, 16% and 17% increased risk of NHL, MM and leukaemia, respectively. Greater height increased the risk of NHL by 7%, DLBCL by 10%, FL by 9%, MM by 5% and Leukaemia by 7%. WHR was associated with increased risk of DLBCL by 12%. No association was found between higher WC and risk of MM.

Conclusion: Our results revealed that general adiposity in adulthood and early adulthood, and greater height may increase the risk of almost all types of lympho-haematopoietic cancers and this adds to a growing body of evidence linking body fatness to several types of cancers.