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Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, and Thyroid Cancer

• The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study examined the relations of body mass index (BMI) and physical activity to thyroid cancer in a prospective cohort of nearly 485,000 U.S. men and women, followed from 1995-1996 to 2003.
• During follow-up, approximately 350 incident cases of thyroid cancer were documented.
• Results support an adverse effect of adiposity on risk for developing total and papillary, and possibly follicular thyroid cancers. Based on only 15 cases, adiposity was unrelated to medullary thyroid cancers. Physical activity was unrelated to total thyroid cancer.

Obesity and Thyroid Cancer Risk among U.S. Men and Women

• A pooled analysis examining obesity and thyroid cancer risk includes primary data from five prospective cohorts maintained by the National Cancer Institute that have accrued 50 or more incident, primary thyroid cancers and have measured or collected information on height and weight: the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study (NIH-AARP), the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), the Breast Cancer Detection and Demonstration Project (BCDDP), the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), and the US Radiologic Technologists Study (USRT).
• The investigators plan to examine the relationship between body mass index and thyroid cancer in the pooled study and within the individual cohorts. This analysis and additional investigations of smoking, alcohol intake, medical history of diabetes, and physical activity in relation to thyroid cancer risk are currently underway.