Cari Kitahara

NCI, DCEG, NEB

PLCO (Learn more about this study)

2011-0207

Oct 6, 2011

Obesity and incidence of rare cancers (thyroid, gallbladder, head and neck) in the NCI Cohort Consortium

The NCI Cohort Consortium has established a dataset of 19 prospective cohort studies for the purposes of investigating the association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality. We propose to expand this dataset to evaluate the association of BMI with potential obesity-related health outcomes, including cancer. While several, more common cancers have well-established relationships with obesity, including postmenopausal breast and colorectal cancer, the role of obesity in rarer cancers, such as thyroid, gallbladder, and head and neck cancers, is less clear. Pooling original data from multiple individual studies (pooled analyses) are a useful method for evaluating the association for rare exposures and/or rare outcomes with greater precision than can typically be achieved in any individual study. We request the participation of PLCO in a pooled analysis of approximately 20 cohort studies to examine the association between BMI and the risk of thyroid, gallbladder, and head and neck cancers. As PLCO has contributed to the previous BMI and mortality analyses in the Cohort Consortium, most of the variables needed for the proposed study have already been collected and harmonized. Thus, participation in the proposed study will require the contribution of only a few select cancer incidence variables. A working group has been formed among the lead investigators (see investigator list) to carry out each aim of the proposal in a coordinated fashion.