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. 2016 May 4;108(10):djw120.
doi: 10.1093/jnci/djw120. Print 2016 Oct.

Multiple Myeloma Mortality in Relation to Obesity Among African Americans

Jennifer S Sonderman  1 , Traci N Bethea  1 , Cari M Kitahara  1 , Alpa V Patel  1 , Chinonye Harvey  1 , Synnøve F Knutsen  1 , Yikyung Park  1 , Song-Yi Park  1 , Gary E Fraser  1 , Lauren R Teras  1 , Mark P Purdue  1 , Rachael Z Stolzenberg-Solomon  1 , Elizabeth M Gillanders  1 , Julie R Palmer  1 , Laurence N Kolonel  1 , William J Blot  2
Affiliations

Multiple Myeloma Mortality in Relation to Obesity Among African Americans

Jennifer S Sonderman et al. J Natl Cancer Inst. .

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) incidence and mortality are higher among African Americans (AAs) than among other population groups. The prevalence of obesity is also elevated among AAs, but few studies have examined risk of this cancer in relation to body size among AAs. We combined data from seven prospective cohorts tracking mortality among 239 597 AA adults and used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for death because of MM according to body mass index (BMI) at cohort entry, adjusted for age (as time-scale) and sex. Relative to those with normal BMIs (18.5-25 kg/m(2)), mortality increased monotonically as BMI increased, with hazard ratios reaching 1.43 (95% CI = 1.03 to 1.97) for BMIs of 35 kg/m(2) or greater. The findings suggest that obesity is a risk factor for MM and a contributor to the elevated rates and rising incidence trends of MM among AAs in the United States.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Forest plot examining heterogeneity across cohorts in continuous hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for multiple myeloma mortality per five-unit increase in body mass index (BMI) among participants with BMIs of 18.5 kg/m 2 or greater. Models were adjusted for age (as time-scale) and sex. AARP = NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study; BWHS = Black Women’s Health Study; CPSII = Cancer Prevention Study II; MEC = Multiethnic Cohort Study; PLCO = Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial; SCCS = Southern Community Cohort Study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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