Body size and composition and the risk of gastric and oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Although evidence has been mounting that obesity may be related to the increased incidence of oesophageal and gastric cardia malignancies, these reports (mainly case-control studies) have relied on imperfect measures of obesity such as body mass index (BMI), and generally have not clearly distinguished between anatomical subsites within the oesophagus and stomach. In a prospective study of people aged 27-75 years, we directly measured fat mass and fat-free mass (using bioelectrical impedance analysis), height, weight and waist and hip circumferences. Among 41,295 people followed on average for 11.3 years, 30 cases with cancers in the gastric cardia or lower third of the oesophagus and 68 cas..