Table 4 Results from analyses of waist-to-hip ratio (quartiles)a and cancer incidence (n = 26,342)

From: Central body fatness is a stronger predictor of cancer risk than overall body size

 

Cases (male)

Age-adjusted (male)

Cases (male)

Multivariate-adjustedb (male)

Cases (female)

Age-adjusted (female)

Cases (female)

Multivariate-adjustedb (female)

All-cancer

  1st Quartile

172

1.0 (Ref)

168

1.0 (Ref)

263

1.0 (Ref)

254

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

231

1.13 (0.93, 1.38)

225

1.11 (0.91, 1.36)

327

1.16† (0.99, 1.37)

315

1.15 (0.97, 1.35)

  3rd Quartile

269

1.16 (0.95, 1.40)

267

1.15 (0.94, 1.39)

345

1.18* (1.00, 1.38)

330

1.15 (0.97, 1.35)

  4th Quartile

329

1.34** (1.11, 1.61)

319

1.28* (1.06, 1.56)

407

1.28** (1.09, 1.50)

388

1.19* (1.01, 1.41)

  P for trend

 

<0.01

 

0.01

 

<0.01

 

0.05

Prostate cancer

  1st Quartile

70

1.0 (Ref)

68

1.0 (Ref)

–

–

–

–

  2nd Quartile

82

0.98 (0.71, 1.35)

82

1.0 (0.72, 1.38)

–

–

–

–

  3rd Quartile

107

1.11 (0.82, 1.50)

105

1.11 (0.82, 1.51)

–

–

–

–

  4th Quartile

139

1.36* (1.01, 1.81)

135

1.42* (1.05, 1.91)

–

–

–

–

  P for trend

 

0.02

 

<0.01

 

–

 

–

Breast cancer—premenopausal

  1st Quartile

–

–

–

–

51

1.0 (Ref)

48

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

–

–

–

–

62

1.36 (0.94, 1.98)

59

1.42† (0.96, 2.10)

  3rd Quartile

–

–

–

–

51

1.28 (0.87, 1.89)

50

1.25 (0.83, 1.90)

  4th Quartile

–

–

–

–

30

0.90 (0.57, 1.42)

28

0.85 (0.52, 1.39)

  P for trend

 

–

 

–

 

0.84

 

0.63

Breast cancer—postmenopausal

  1st Quartile

–

–

–

–

54

1.0 (Ref)

51

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

–

–

–

–

76

1.17 (0.83, 1.66)

73

1.24 (0.86, 1.77)

  3rd Quartile

–

–

–

–

62

0.85 (0.59, 1.22)

61

0.91 (0.63, 1.33)

  4th Quartile

–

–

–

–

94

1.09 (0.78, 1.52)

89

1.13 (0.79, 1.62)

  P for trend

     

0.95

 

0.91

Endometrial cancer

  1st Quartile

–

–

–

–

17

1.0 (Ref)

17

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

–

–

–

–

22

1.24 (0.66, 2.33)

19

1.10 (0.57, 2.13)

  3rd Quartile

–

–

–

–

39

2.16** (1.22, 3.82)

36

2.10* (1.17, 3.75)

  4th Quartile

–

–

–

–

43

2.26** (1.28, 4.00)

38

1.97* (1.09, 3.57)

  P for trend

 

–

 

–

 

<0.01

 

<0.01

Colon cancer

  1st Quartile

11

1.0 (Ref)

11

1.0 (Ref)

21

1.0 (Ref)

21

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

15

1.15 (0.53, 2.51)

15

1.08 (0.49, 2.36)

26

1.14 (0.64, 2.02)

25

1.08 (0.60, 1.93)

  3rd Quartile

23

1.55 (0.75, 3.19)

23

1.40 (0.68, 2.90)

28

1.16 (0.66, 2.05)

28

1.14 (0.64, 2.02)

  4th Quartile

33

2.11* (1.06, 4.20)

32

1.77 (0.87, 3.59)

32

1.19 (0.68, 2.08)

32

1.12 (0.63, 1.98)

  P for trend

 

0.01

 

0.06

 

0.57

 

0.69

Lung cancer

  1st Quartile

10

1.0 (Ref)

9

1.0 (Ref)

21

1.0 (Ref)

20

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

18

1.44 (0.67, 3.13)

16

1.48 (0.65, 3.36)

31

1.27 (0.73, 2.21)

30

1.06 (0.60, 1.88)

  3rd Quartile

16

1.08 (0.49, 2.38)

16

1.07 (0.47, 2.44)

33

1.22 (0.70, 2.10)

32

0.88 (0.50, 1.55)

  4th Quartile

30

1.86† (0.90, 3.82)

30

1.28 (0.59, 2.78)

50

1.53 (0.92, 2.56)

46

0.84 (0.48, 1.45)

  P for trend

 

0.12

 

0.78

 

0.12

 

0.36

Leukemia

  1st Quartile

12

1.0 (Ref)

12

1.0 (Ref)

4

1.0 (Ref)

4

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

12

0.87 (0.39, 1.94)

12

0.88 (0.40, 1.98)

10

2.35 (0.74, 7.50)

10

2.36 (0.74, 7.53)

  3rd Quartile

16

1.05 (0.49, 2.23)

16

1.08 (0.50, 2.32)

14

3.18* (1.04, 9.70)

13

2.91† (0.94, 8.99)

  4th Quartile

12

0.76 (0.34, 1.71)

10

0.66 (0.28, 1.58)

16

3.35* (1.11, 10.11)

15

2.96† (0.96, 9.15)

  P for trend

 

0.63

 

0.48

 

0.03

 

0.07

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

  1st Quartile

4

1.0 (Ref)

4

1.0 (Ref)

10

1.0 (Ref)

9

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

19

4.27** (1.45, 12.58)

19

4.20** (1.42, 12.39)

12

1.10 (0.47, 2.54)

12

1.22 (0.51, 2.91)

  3rd Quartile

15

3.09* (1.02, 9.38)

15

2.97† (0.97, 9.06)

10

0.87 (0.36, 2.09)

9

0.87 (0.34, 2.21)

  4th Quartile

15

3.03* (0.99, 9.21)

15

2.76† (0.90, 8.51)

15

1.16 (0.52, 2.62)

15

1.28 (0.54, 3.00)

  P for trend

 

0.24

 

0.36

 

0.83

 

0.74

Hematological

  1st Quartile

17

1.0 (Ref)

17

1.0 (Ref)

15

1.0 (Ref)

14

1.0 (Ref)

  2nd Quartile

31

1.62 (0.90, 2.93)

31

1.62 (0.89, 2.94)

23

1.43 (0.74, 2.73)

23

1.56 (0.80, 3.02)

  3rd Quartile

32

1.53 (0.84, 2.77)

32

1.52 (0.84, 2.77)

24

1.43 (0.75, 2.73)

22

1.41 (0.72, 2.77)

  4th Quartile

27

1.26 (0.68, 2.32)

25

1.14 (0.60, 2.16)

32

1.73† (0.93, 3.23)

31

1.78† (0.93, 3.41)

  P for trend

 

0.67

 

0.90

 

0.10

 

0.20

  1. Note: Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from Cox regression models are presented
  2. aQuartiles of WHR for males: 1st Quartile = 0.74–0.92, 2nd Quartile = 0.93–0.97, 3rd Quartile = 0.97–1.02, 4th quartile = 1.02–1.50
  3. Quartiles of WHR for females: 1st Quartile = 0.57–0.78, 2nd Quartile = 0.78–0.82, 3rd Quartile = 0.82–0.87, 4th Quartile = 0.87–1.46
  4. bAdjusted for: age (continuous), ethnicity (white/other), marital status (married or living with someone/divorced, separated, or widowed/single, never married), highest level of education (high school or less/some post-high school education/post-high school certificate or degree), total household income ($0–$49,999/$50,000 to $99,999/≥$100,000), geographical area of residence (urban/rural), smoking status (current/former/never), alcohol consumption (grams of ethanol per day), energy intake (kilocalories per day), total physical activity (MET-hours per week), history of diabetes (yes/no), family history of cancer (yes/no), pack-years of cigarettes (lung cancer only), fiber intake (grams per day) (colon cancer only), menopausal status (pre-menopause/post-menopause) (breast and endometrial cancers), years of birth control use (0 to 5 years/> 5 years), (breast and endometrial cancers), history of breast cancer screening (yes/no) (breast cancer only), history of colon cancer screening (yes/no) (colon cancer only), history of prostate cancer screening (yes/no) (prostate cancer only), and ever used female hormones for menopause (yes/no) (breast cancer only)
  5. **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05; †p < 0.1
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