Enlarging Obesity Numbers 'Minor Role' in Rising Lymphoma Numbers

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Obesity a minor player in rising rate of lymphoma

Reuters Health

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The increasing number of cases of

lymphoma and other cancers of the blood cannot be blamed to any

great degree on the increasing number of people who are overweight

or obese, Norwegian investigators conclude.

The rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), which makes up a major

proportion of all lymphomas, has risen during the last three decades

in Norway and other parts of the world, Dr. Anders Engeland, from

the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, and colleagues

explain in a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

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To explore further, the team looked at height and weight for two

million Norwegian men and women aged 20 to 74 years, who were

measured at some point from 1963 to 2001. During an average follow-

up of 23 years (maximum, 40 years), 24,500 cases of lymphoma were

recorded.

Overall, the researchers found a " moderate and consistent " link

between increasing BMI -- a measure of weight in relation to height -

- and the risk of blood cancer in both men and women. Risk also

increased modestly with increasing height.

With every five-unit increase in BMI, the risk of cancers of the

blood rose 11 percent in men and 8 percent in women. For each 10-

centimeter increase in height, the risk went up 19 percent in men

and 16 percent in women.

Engeland and colleagues conclude, based on their findings, that the

increasing incidence of overweight and obesity plays " only a minor

role " in explaining the increased incidence of lymphomas seen around

the world.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 2007.