ANTHROPOMETRIC INDICATORS OF ENDOMETRIAL CANCER RISK

The relation between selected anthropometric indicators and the risk of endometrial cancer was evaluated using data from a case-control study conducted in Northern Italy on 562 cases and 1780 controls in hospital for acute, non-neoplastic or hormone-related disease. There was no appreciable association between height and endometrial cancer: compared with the lowest quintile, the multivariate relative risks (RR) were 0.9, 0.9, 0.7 and 0.8 for each subsequent quintile. Weight was directly associated with risk (RR = 2.7 for top vs. bottom quintile), and the positive association was even stronger when indices of body mass which make allowance for height were considered: the relative risks for extreme quintiles were 3.4 for W/H2 (Quetelet's index, weight and height), 3.8 for W/H1.5 and 3.5 for W0.33/H. Surface area, which was positively correlated both with height and weight, showed a weaker direct association (RR = 2.4 between extreme quintiles). The relations with measures of body weight were apparently stronger in postmenopause, but the point estimates for the upper quintile were also around 2 in premenopausal women. Although the major findings of this study are not new, they provide more detailed information than was hitherto available on the relation between various anthropometric indicators and endometrial cancer risk. In relation to height, with the sample size of this study it was possible to exclude, at the conventional 95% probability, relative risks above 1.0 for the fourth and above 1.1 for the fifth as compared with the lowest quintile. This provides indirect evidence against the hypothesis that nutritional status early in life is related to the subsequent development of endometrial cancer.