Increased BMI Increases Multiple Myeloma Mortality Risk

Obesity may increase the risk for death among multiple myeloma patients, the results of a recent study suggest. The pooled analysis, published on May 23, 2014, in the British Journal of Haematology, also found that obese women were at the greatest risk of death from the cancer.

To investigate the link between weight and multiple myeloma, the study analyzed 1.5 million multiple myeloma patients from 20 prospective cohorts in the National Cancer Institute Cohort Consortium.

The results indicated that increased body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference were associated with increased mortality from multiple myeloma. Patients with high BMI during early adulthood had a hazard ratio for death of 1.22, while those who had high BMI at the time they entered the cohort had an average hazard ratio of 1.09. Women with a BMI above 25 during early adulthood or a BMI above 30 at the time of cohort entry had an increased risk of death of 1.95 compared with patients with lower BMI. The ratio of waist to hips and height were not associated with multiple myeloma mortality.

“These observations suggest that overall, and possibly also central, obesity influence myeloma mortality, and women have the highest risk of death from this cancer if they remain heavy throughout adulthood,” the authors of the study concluded. SPT