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Serum triglycerides and cancer risk in the metabolic syndrome and cancer (Me-Can) collaborative study

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Abstract

Objective

To assess the association between serum triglyceride levels and cancer risk.

Methods

The metabolic syndrome and cancer project (Me-Can) includes cohorts from Norway, Austria, and Sweden; the current study included data on 257,585 men and 256,512 women. The mean age at study entry was 43.8 years for men and 44.2 years for women. The mean follow-up time was 13.4 years (SD = 8.5) for men and 11.9 years (SD = 7.2) for women. Excluding the first year of follow-up, 23,060 men and 15,686 women were diagnosed with cancer. Cox regression models were used to calculate relative risk (RR) of cancer for triglyceride levels in quintiles and as a continuous variable. RRs were corrected for random error by use of regression dilution ratio.

Results

Relative risk for top quintile versus bottom quintile of triglycerides of overall cancer was 1.16 (95% confidence interval 1.06–1.26) in men and 1.15 (1.05–1.27) in women. For specific cancers, significant increases for top quintile versus bottom quintile of triglycerides among men were found for cancers of the colon, respiratory tract, the kidney, melanoma and thyroid and among women, for respiratory, cervical, and non-melanoma skin cancers.

Conclusion

Data from our study provided evidence for a possible role of serum triglycerides in cancer development.

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Acknowledgments

Funding sources of this study are World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International) 2007/2009 and the Austrian National Bank Grant OENB-12737 (to H.U.).

Conflict of interest

None declared

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Schoepfstrasse 41, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Wegene Borena, Susanne Strohmaier, Alexander Strasak & Hanno Ulmer

  2. Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Tanja Stocks, Christel Häggström & Pär Stattin

  3. Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Håkan Jonsson

  4. Institute of Epidemiology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Gabriele Nagel

  5. Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Tone Bjørge & Anders Engeland

  6. Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo/Bergen, Norway

    Tone Bjørge, Randi Selmer & Anders Engeland

  7. Department of Surgery, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

    Jonas Manjer

  8. Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Nutritional Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Göran Hallmans

  9. Department of Surgery, Lund University Hospital, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

    Martin Almquist

  10. Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Population-Based Cancer Research, Montebello, 0310, Oslo, Norway

    Steinar Tretli

  11. Agency for Preventive and Social Medicine, Bregenz, Austria

    Hans Concin

Authors
  1. Wegene Borena
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  2. Tanja Stocks
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  3. Håkan Jonsson
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  4. Susanne Strohmaier
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  5. Gabriele Nagel
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  6. Tone Bjørge
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  7. Jonas Manjer
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  8. Göran Hallmans
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  9. Randi Selmer
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  10. Martin Almquist
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  11. Christel Häggström
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  12. Anders Engeland
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  13. Steinar Tretli
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  14. Hans Concin
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  15. Alexander Strasak
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  16. Pär Stattin
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  17. Hanno Ulmer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hanno Ulmer.

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Borena, W., Stocks, T., Jonsson, H. et al. Serum triglycerides and cancer risk in the metabolic syndrome and cancer (Me-Can) collaborative study. Cancer Causes Control 22, 291–299 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9697-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9697-0

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