Skip to Main Content

An official website of the United States government

Government Funding Lapse

Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit  cc.nih.gov. Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at OPM.gov.

Body size and multiple myeloma mortality: a pooled analysis of 20 prospective studies.

About this Publication
Title
Body size and multiple myeloma mortality: a pooled analysis of 20 prospective studies.
Pubmed ID
24861847 (View this publication on the PubMed website)
Digital Object Identifier
Publication
Br. J. Haematol. 2014 Sep; Volume 166 (Issue 5): Pages 667-76
Authors
Teras LR, Kitahara CM, Birmann BM, Hartge PA, Wang SS, Robien K, Patel AV, Adami HO, Weiderpass E, Giles GG, Singh PN, Alavanja M, Beane Freeman LE, Bernstein L, Buring JE, Colditz GA, Fraser GE, Gapstur SM, Gaziano JM, Giovannucci E, ...show more Hofmann JN, Linet MS, Neta G, Park Y, Peters U, Rosenberg PS, Schairer C, Sesso HD, Stampfer MJ, Visvanathan K, White E, Wolk A, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, de González AB, Purdue MP
Affiliations
  • Epidemiology Research Program, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a rare but highly fatal malignancy. High body weight is associated with this cancer, but several questions remain regarding the aetiological relevance of timing and location of body weight. To address these questions, we conducted a pooled analysis of MM mortality using 1·5 million participants (including 1388 MM deaths) from 20 prospective cohorts in the National Cancer Institute Cohort Consortium. Proportional hazards regression was used to calculate pooled multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Associations with elevated MM mortality were observed for higher early-adult body mass index (BMI; HR = 1·22, 95% CI: 1·09-1·35 per 5 kg/m(2) ) and for higher cohort-entry BMI (HR 1·09, 95% CI: 1·03-1·16 per 5 kg/m(2) ) and waist circumference (HR = 1·06, 95% CI: 1·02-1·10 per 5 cm). Women who were the heaviest, both in early adulthood (BMI 25+) and at cohort entry (BMI 30+) were at greater risk compared to those with BMI 18·5 ≤ 25 at both time points (HR = 1·95, 95% CI: 1·33-2·86). Waist-to-hip ratio and height were not associated with MM mortality. These observations suggest that overall, and possibly also central, obesity influence myeloma mortality, and women have the highest risk of death from this cancer if they remain heavy throughout adulthood.

Related CDAS Studies