According to a new research in JAMA Network Open, older cancer survivors suffering from overweight or obesity have a significantly increased risk of developing a second primary cancer as compared to those with a healthy body weight.
The study in question was carried out over large population of nearly 27,000 survivors aged 72 years, on average, conducted by the American Cancer Society. These participants were tracked for a median period of about 8 years from the first diagnosis of cancer.
Highlights include:
- Survivor who were overweight out of this class termed as this overweight class of BMI index 25-29.9 were found to have a 15% increased chances of developing any second cancer than the normal weight survivors.
- Obese survivors days BMI index 30 and above, were offered a 34% increased risk of any second cancer.
- Increased risk was even higher with respect to specific obesity related cancers – overweight survivors had 40% increased risk and obese survivors had 78% increased risk.
- A sustained increase of 5 BMI units enhances the hazards for any second cancer and obesity related second cancer respectively by 13% and 28%.
“The results clearly highlight the need for a healthy weight in cancer patients,” lead author Dr. Clara Bodelon said:“In addition excess body weight seems to have a very strong correlation to any subsequent primary cancer occurrence particularly if it is one associated with overweight conditions.”
The study particularly targeted older adults who has scarce information regarding their second cancer risk factors. There has been increased interest in understanding such risk factors given the high number of cancer survivors due to advances in early detection and treatment
. “Considering that more than 60% of patients in our study cancer survivors were either overweight or obese these results have important public health consequences,” Dr. Bodelon observed. “Healthcare professionals need to stress the need for effective management of weight to their cancer survivors’ patients and also improve the understanding of the second cancers risk.”
The researchers believe these outcomes will help in development of evidence-based cancer survivorship care guidelines and initiation of further research on weight loss strategies for sustaining cancer free survival. In the case of the many cancer survivors it is evident that, maintaining normal body weight may be an important strategy for reducing the risk of new cancers.