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Childhood body mass index and height in relation to site-specific risks of colorectal cancers in adult life

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Abstract

As colorectal cancers have a long latency period, their origins may lie early in life. Therefore childhood body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and height may be associated with adult colorectal cancer. Using a cohort design, 257,623 children from The Copenhagen School Health Records Register born from 1930 to 1972 with measured heights and weights at ages 7 to 13 years were followed for adult colon and rectal adenocarcinomas by linkage to the Danish Cancer Registry. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by Cox proportional hazard regressions. During follow-up, 2676 colon and 1681 rectal adenocarcinomas were diagnosed. No sex differences were observed in the associations between child BMI or height and adult colon or rectal cancers. Childhood BMI and height were positively associated with colon cancer; at age 13 years the HRs were 1.09 (95% CI 1.04–1.14) and 1.14 (95% CI 1.09–1.19) per z-score, respectively. Children who were persistently taller or heavier than average, had increased risk of colon cancer. Similarly, growing taller or gaining more weight than average was positively associated with colon cancer. No associations were observed between BMI or height and rectal cancer. Childhood BMI and height, along with above average change during childhood are significantly and positively associated with adult colon cancers, but not with rectal cancer, suggesting different etiologies.

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Acknowledgements

The CSHRR has been built in collaboration between the Institute of Preventive Medicine and the Copenhagen City Archives in Denmark.

Funding

BWJ, MG and JLB were funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 281419, childgrowth2cancer and the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF)/FSS Grant Agreement no. 1331-00218. There are no financial disclosures from any of the authors. The funding sources did not have any role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, The Capital Region, Nordre Fasanvej 57, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Britt W. Jensen, Michael Gamborg, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen & Jennifer L. Baker

  2. Department of Surgery, Zealand University Hospital, Copenhagen University, Lykkebækvej 1, 4600, Køge, Denmark

    Ismail Gögenur

  3. Division of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Andrew G. Renehan

  4. Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Nørre Allé 20, 2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark

    Thorkild I. A. Sørensen & Jennifer L. Baker

  5. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Thorkild I. A. Sørensen

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  1. Britt W. Jensen
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  2. Michael Gamborg
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Correspondence to Jennifer L. Baker.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency. According to Danish law, informed consent is not required for purely register-based research of pre-existing data. Thus, for this type of study formal consents are not required.

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Jensen, B.W., Gamborg, M., Gögenur, I. et al. Childhood body mass index and height in relation to site-specific risks of colorectal cancers in adult life. Eur J Epidemiol 32, 1097–1106 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-017-0289-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-017-0289-0

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