Being obese could lead to a greater risk of developing the most common form of renal cell cancer. William T. Lowrance, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, USA), and colleagues, studied 1,640 patients with kidney tumors, and found that obese patients with kidney tumors have 48% higher odds of developing a clear-cell renal cell cancer (RCC) than patients with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 30. Further, those odds increase by 4% for every extra BMI point. Finding that: “These results suggest that [body mass index (BMI)] is an independent predictor of clear-cell histology in patients with a renal cortical tumor,” the team urges that their findings suggest it is more important than ever to identify those people who face an increased risk of developing this variant [type of cancer].
Obesity Linked to Common Form of Kidney Cancer
William T. Lowrance, R. Houston Thompson, David S. Yee, Matthew Kaag, S. Machele Donat, Paul Russo. “Obesity is associated with a higher risk of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma than with other histologies.” British Journal Urology International; Volume 105 Issue 1, pp 16-20; 6 Jul 2009; DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2009.08706.x.
