Total Cholesterol and Body Mass Index in Relation to 40-Year Cancer Mortality (The Corfu Cohort of the Seven Countries Study)
- 1 July 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
- Vol. 14 (7), 1797-1801
- https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.epi-04-0907
Abstract
Purpose: We evaluated risk factors of cancer mortality based on a 40-year follow-up of the Corfu cohort (Seven Countries Study). Material and Methods: The population studied in this analysis consisted of 529 rural men (49 ± 6 years old) enrolled in 1961. Since then, periodic visits every 5 years were made to define the causes of death of the participants. Cox proportional hazards models evaluated various risk factors in relation to cancer mortality. Results: The death rate at the end of the follow-up was 87.1% (i.e., 461 deaths in 529 participants). Of those deaths, 118 (25.6%) were because of cancer (30 deaths were due to cancer of trachea, bronchus, and lung, and the rest were due to other malignant neoplasms). Cancer was the second cause of death in this cohort, after coronary heart disease. Age (hazard ratio, 1.05 per year; P < 0.05), smoking (hazard ratio, 1.97; P < 0.01), total serum cholesterol levels (hazard ratio, 0.95 per 10 mg/dL; P < 0.05), and body mass index (hazard ratio, 0.93 per 1 kg/m2; P < 0.05) showed a significant association with cancer deaths after controlling for physical activity status and anthropometric indices. It should be noted that the protective effect of total cholesterol on cancer mortality was observed only between 183 and 218 mg/dL baseline levels. Conclusion: Cancer was one of the leading causes of death in this cohort. Smoking was associated with increased risk of cancer, whereas moderate total serum cholesterol and increased body and mass index seemed to have a protective effect on 40-year cancer mortality.This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of physical activity and body mass index on cardiovascular, cancer and all-cause mortality among 47 212 middle-aged Finnish men and womenInternational Journal of Obesity, 2005
- Obesity and risk of cancer in JapanInternational Journal of Cancer, 2004
- Risk Factors of Stroke Mortality: A 40-Year Follow-Up of the Corfu Cohort from the Seven-Countries StudyNeuroepidemiology, 2003
- Forty‐Year Follow‐Up of Coronary Heart Disease Mortality and Its Predictors: The Corfu Cohort of the Seven Countries StudyPreventive Cardiology, 2003
- Nutritional epidemiology of cancer: accomplishments and prospectsProceedings of the Nutrition Society, 2002
- Physical activity, physical fitness, and all-cause and cancer mortality: A prospective study of men and womenAnnals of Epidemiology, 1996
- Lowering cholesterol: effects on trauma death, cancer death and total mortalityAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine, 1992
- Cancer Incidence and Cancer Mortality in Relation to Serum CholesterolJNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1989
- Serum cholesterol and 25-year incidence of and mortality from myocardial infarction and cancer. The Zutphen StudyArchives of Internal Medicine, 1988
- Serum cholesterol levels and cancer mortality in 361,662 men screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention TrialJAMA, 1987