Overweight and obesity during adolescence increases the risk of renal cell carcinoma

While overweight among adults has been linked with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) risk, little is known about the potential influence of overweight and obesity during adolescence. To ascertain if adolescent body mass index is associated with subsequent risk of RCC, we identified a cohort of 238,788 Swedish men who underwent mandatory military conscription assessment between 1969 and 1976 at a mean age of 18.5 years. At the time of conscription assessment, physical and psychological tests were performed including measurements of height and weight. Participants were followed through linkage to the Swedish Cancer Registry to identify incident diagnoses of RCC. The association between body mass index (BMI, kg/m²) at conscription assessment and subsequent RCC was evaluated using multivariable Cox regression. During a follow‐up of up to 37 years, 266 men were diagnosed with RCC. We observed a trend for higher RCC risk with increasing BMI during adolescence, where one‐unit increase in BMI conferred a 6% increased risk of RCC (95% CI 1.01–1.10). compared to normal weight men (BMI 18.5‐ < 25), men with overweight (BMI 25‐ < 30) or obesity (BMI ≥30) had hazard ratios for RCC of 1.76 (95% CI 1.16–2.67) and 2.87 (95% CI 1.26–6.25), respectively. The link between overweight/obesity and RCC appear to be already established during late adolescence. Prevention of unhealthy weight gain during childhood and adolescence may thus be a target in efforts to decrease the burden of RCC in the adult population.

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