Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of height and body mass index on the risk of testicular cancer in 600,000 Norwegian men

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study aimed at exploring the relations between body mass index (BMI) and stature and testicular cancer in a huge Norwegian cohort with measured height and weight. Height and weight were measured in 600,000 Norwegian men aged 14–44 years during 1963–2001. Results from parts of the study cohort have been reported previously. During follow-up, 1,357 testicular cancers were registered. Relative risks (RRs) of testicular cancer were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. The risk of testicular cancer decreased with adult BMI. Compared with men with normal BMI, overweight and obese men had a relative risk of cancer of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.77–1.03) and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.58–1.17). The relative risk of testicular cancer per unit increase in BMI was 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95–1.00). The risk of testicular cancer was not associated with adolescent BMI. A moderate increase in risk of seminomas was seen with increasing adult height. Compared with men with height 170–79 cm, men with height 180 cm and above had a relative risk of 1.17 (95% CI: 1.00–1.37).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P (2005) Global cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin 55:74–108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Purdue MP, Devesa SS, Sigurdson AJ, McGlynn KA (2005) International patterns and trends in testis cancer incidence. Int J Cancer 115:822–827

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. The Cancer Registry of Norway. The Cancer Registry of Norway. http://www.kreftregisteret.no/. March, 2006

  4. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Cancer-Preventive Strategies (2002) Weight control and physical activity. IARC Press International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dieckmann KP, Pichlmeier U (2002) Is risk of testicular cancer related to body size? Eur Urol 42:564–569

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Akre O, Ekbom A, Sparén P, Tretli S (2000) Body size and testicular cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 92:1093–1096

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bjørge T, Tretli S, Engeland A (2004) Relation of height and body mass index to renal cell carcinoma in two million Norwegian men and women. Am J Epidemiol 160:1168–1176

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Waaler HT (1984) Height, weight and mortality. The Norwegian experiment. Acta Med Scand Suppl 679:1–56

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bjartveit K, Foss OP, Gjervig T, Lund-Larsen PG (1979) The cardiovascular disease study in Norwegian counties. Background and organization. Acta Med Scand Suppl 634:1–70

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bjartveit K (1997) [The National Health Screening Service: From fight against tuberculosis to many-sided epidemiological activities] Fra tuberkulosekamp til mangesidig epidemiologisk virksomhet. Nor Epidemiol 7:157–174

    Google Scholar 

  11. Statistics Norway. Statistics Norway. http://www.ssb.no/english/. March, 2006

  12. Cox DR, Oakes D (1984) Analysis of Survival Data. Chapman and Hall Ltd., London

    Google Scholar 

  13. World Health Organization Consultation on Obesity. Preventing and managing the global epidemic: Report of a WHO Consultation on Obesity, Geneva, 3–5 June 1997. 1–276. 1998. Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization

  14. Kuczmarski RJ, Ogden CL, Grummer-Strawn LM, et al. (2000) CDC growth charts: United States. Adv Data 1–27

  15. National Center for Health Statistics . CDC Growth Charts: United States. http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/. August, 2002

  16. SPSS Inc. SPSS for Windows. Release 12.0.2. 2004

  17. Rajpert-De Meyts E, Bartkova J, Samson M, et al. (2003) The emerging phenotype of the testicular carcinoma in situ germ cell. APMIS 111:267–278

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Dieckmann KP, Pichlmeier U (2004) Clinical epidemiology of testicular germ cell tumors. World J Urol 22:2–14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Rasmussen F, Gunnell D, Ekbom A, Hallqvist J, Tynelius P (2003) Birth weight, adult height, and testicular cancer: cohort study of 337,249 Swedish young men. Cancer Causes Control 14:595–598

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Richiardi L, Askling J, Granath F, Akre O (2003) Body size at birth and adulthood and the risk for germ-cell testicular cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 12:669–673

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Cole TJ (2000) Secular trends in growth. Proc Nutr Soc 59:317–324

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

We are grateful to those who during almost 40 years collected the data used in the present study. These are persons connected to the former National Health Screening Service, The Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey (HUNT), The Hordaland Health Survey (HUSK) and The Tromsø Study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Section for Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Bergen, N-5018, Bergen, Norway

    Tone Bjørge & Anders Engeland

  2. Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, N-5018, Bergen, Norway

    Tone Bjørge & Anders Engeland

  3. Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, N-0403, Oslo, Norway

    Tone Bjørge & Anders Engeland

  4. The Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of population-based cancer research, Oslo, N-0310, Oslo, Norway

    Steinar Tretli & A. Kathrine Lie

Authors
  1. Tone Bjørge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steinar Tretli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Kathrine Lie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Anders Engeland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tone Bjørge.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bjørge, T., Tretli, S., Lie, A.K. et al. The impact of height and body mass index on the risk of testicular cancer in 600,000 Norwegian men. Cancer Causes Control 17, 983–987 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0032-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0032-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation