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Anthropometric factors and physical activity and risk of thyroid cancer in postmenopausal women

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the associations of anthropometric factors and physical activity with risk of thyroid cancer in a large prospective study.

Methods

We examined these associations with risk of incident thyroid cancer in a cohort of 144,319 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for factors of interest with risk of all thyroid cancer (n = 294) and of the two major subtypes: papillary (n = 245) and follicular thyroid cancer (n = 32).

Results

After adjustment for covariates, measured height at baseline was positively associated with thyroid cancer overall (HR for highest vs. lowest quartile 1.48, 95% CI 1.04–2.13, p for trend 0.02) and with papillary carcinoma (HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.01–2.21, p for trend 0.03, respectively). For each 5 cm-increase in height, the HR for all thyroid cancer was 1.15, 95% CI 1.04–1.27 and for papillary thyroid cancer was 1.14, 95% CI 1.03–1.27. In addition, self-reported weight at age 18 was positively associated with risk of papillary thyroid cancer. In contrast, baseline weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-hip ratio, weight change from age 18 to baseline, and level of self-reported recreational physical activity were not associated with risk.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that attained stature is a risk factor for thyroid cancer in postmenopausal women. This association may reflect the influence of either genetic or environmental factors in early life on risk of thyroid cancer.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Geoffrey C. Kabat, Mimi Y. Kim & Thomas E. Rohan

  2. Department of Nutritional Sciences and Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Cynthia A. Thomson

  3. Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Juhua Luo

  4. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Jean Wactawski-Wende

Authors
  1. Geoffrey C. Kabat
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  2. Mimi Y. Kim
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  3. Cynthia A. Thomson
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  4. Juhua Luo
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  5. Jean Wactawski-Wende
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  6. Thomas E. Rohan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geoffrey C. Kabat.

Appendix: Short list of WHI investigators

Appendix: Short list of WHI investigators

Program Office

(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland) Jacques Rossouw, Shari Ludlam, Dale Burwen, Joan McGowan, Leslie Ford, and Nancy Geller.

Clinical Coordinating Center: Clinical Coordinating Center

(Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA) Garnet Anderson, Ross Prentice, Andrea LaCroix, and Charles Kooperberg.

Investigators and Academic Centers

(Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) JoAnn E. Manson; (MedStar Health Research Institute/Howard University, Washington, DC) Barbara V. Howard; (Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford, CA) Marcia L. Stefanick; (The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH) Rebecca Jackson; (University of Arizona, Tucson/Phoenix, AZ) Cynthia A. Thomson; (University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY) Jean Wactawski-Wende; (University of Florida, Gainesville/Jacksonville, FL) Marian Limacher; (University of Iowa, Iowa City/Davenport, IA) Robert Wallace; (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA) Lewis Kuller; (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC) Sally Shumaker.

Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study

(Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC) Sally Shumaker.

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Kabat, G.C., Kim, M.Y., Thomson, C.A. et al. Anthropometric factors and physical activity and risk of thyroid cancer in postmenopausal women. Cancer Causes Control 23, 421–430 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9890-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9890-9

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