Female obesity linked to leukemia
Friday, November 5, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov 05, 2004
(United Press International via COMTEX) — Overweight and obesity could more than double an older woman’s risk of acute myelogenous leukemia, or AML, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood.
Studies have shown overweight and obesity are risk factors for colon, breast, kidney, and endometrial cancers, but University of Minnesota Cancer Center researchers found a potential link between obesity and risk of leukemia. They monitored the health of more than 37,000 older Iowa women over 14 years and found 200 of the women developed leukemia — 74 were diagnosed with AML and 88 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL.
“We found that the risk for getting AML was 90 percent higher in overweight women age 55 and older who had a body mass index of 25-29,” said epidemiologist Julie Ross, lead researcher on the study. “In obese women age 55 and older and with a BMI of 30 or greater, the risk increased to as much as a 140 percent.”