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BACKGROUND: Excess body weight was shown to be associated with risk of several types of cancer. In the Czech Republic, malignant tumors are the second leading cause of death. The aim of this study was to assess the association between the most frequent types of cancer and obesity. METHODS: A case-control study was accomplished, using data from the National Cancer Registry and from a preventive oncologic checkup database. Cases were defined as persons from the studied population who developed skin, breast, colorectal, prostate, lung, cervical, endometrial, kidney, ovarian, urinary bladder, stomach, pancreatic, or gallbladder cancers from 1987 to 2002. Controls were cancer-free men and women from the population. Among the cancer patients and healthy controls, proportions of obese, overweight, and nonobese individuals were compared, and odds ratios (OR) were computed. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, obese men had a significantly increased risk of colorectal cancer (OR: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.56-2.76) and kidney cancer (OR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.14-3.24). Obese women were at higher risk of endometrial cancer (OR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.65-6.37). An inverse association was observed between obesity and lung cancer (in men: OR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.37-0.66; in women: OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.21-0.80). CONCLUSION: Obesity is associated with several frequent types of tumors and represents an important preventable cause of cancer in the population of the District Sumperk, Czech Republic.
Machová et al. (Mon,) studied this question.