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Body size and risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma by age and gender: a population-based case–control study in Connecticut and Massachusetts

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Abstract

Purpose

Descriptive studies have indicated a rising trend in Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) incidence in young adults, especially females. Increasing evidence has suggested that some risk factors associated with HL may vary by age or gender. Recent studies have reported an increased risk of HL associated with increasing body mass index (BMI), but the results have been inconsistent. The objectives of this study were to examine whether the associations between measures of body size (height, weight, and BMI) and HL risk vary by age and/or gender.

Methods

A population-based case–control study was conducted in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A total of 567 HL cases and 679 controls were recruited in 1997–2000. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Among younger women <35 years old, being overweight (25–29.9 kg/m2) versus normal weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m2) was significantly associated with an increased risk of HL (OR = 2.1, 95 % CI = 1.1–4.0). The risk increased with increasing weight and BMI (p trends <0.01). Among women ≥35 years old, by contrast, higher weight and BMI were associated with a reduced risk of HL (p trends <0.01). Conversely, there was no significant association between BMI and risk of HL in younger or older males.

Conclusions

These findings show that the associations between body size and risk of HL vary by gender and age, and require confirmation in other populations.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Public Health Service grants P01 CA069266-01A1 (N. E. Mueller) and T32 CA09001-24 (E. T. Chang) from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and by Fogarty training grants D43TW 008323 and D43TW 007864-01 from the National Institutes of Health (T. Zheng). The authors thank Kathryn Trainor, Patricia Morey, and Karen Pawlish (Harvard School of Public Health) for their thorough management of the project and its databases. In addition, we thank Mary Fronk (Harvard School of Public Health) for her capable administrative support. Judith Fine, Rajni Mehta, and Patricia Owens (Yale University Rapid Case Ascertainment and School of Medicine); and Dan Friedman (Massachusetts Cancer Registry). In Massachusetts, participating case patients were identified from the following sources with institutional review board approval: AtlantiCare Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Beverly Hospital, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brockton Hospital, Brockton VA/West Roxbury Hospital, Cambridge Hospital, Caritas Southwood Hospital, Carney Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Deaconess Glover Memorial Hospital, Deaconess Waltham Hospital, Emerson Hospital, Faulkner Hospital, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Harvard Vanguard, Holy Family Hospital and Medical Center, Jordan Hospital, Lahey Hitchcock Medical Center, Lawrence General Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital of Medford, Lowell General Hospital, Massachusetts Cancer Registry, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, MetroWest Medical Center, Morton Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital, New England Medical Center, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, North Shore Medical Center, Norwood Hospital, Quincy Hospital, Saint’s Memorial Hospital, South Shore Hospital, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Sturdy Memorial Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and Winchester Hospital. In Connecticut, participating case patients were identified from the following sources with institutional review board approval: Bridgeport Hospital, Bristol Hospital, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Connecticut Department of Public Health Human Investigation Committee, Danbury Hospital, Day-Kimball Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Griffin Hospital, Hartford Hospital, Johnson Memorial Hospital, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital, MidState Medical Center, Middlesex Memorial Hospital, Milford Hospital, New Britain General Hospital, New Milford Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, Rockville General Hospital, Sharon Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, St. Mary’s Hospital, St. Raphael’s Hospital, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Stamford Hospital, WW Backus Hospital, Waterbury Hospital, Windham Hospital, and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Office of Cancer Prevention and Control, Cancer Hospital/Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Qian Li & Min Dai

  2. Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ellen T. Chang

  3. Health Sciences Practice, Exponent, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Ellen T. Chang

  4. Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Qian Li, Bryan A. Bassig, Yawei Zhang & Tongzhang Zheng

  5. Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA

    Qin Qin

  6. Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

    Yongshun Gao

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  1. Qian Li
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Correspondence to Tongzhang Zheng.

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Li, Q., Chang, E.T., Bassig, B.A. et al. Body size and risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma by age and gender: a population-based case–control study in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Cancer Causes Control 24, 287–295 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0100-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0100-1

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