AbstractsMedical & Health Science

Background and aims: Obesity has become the sixth most important risk factor contributing to the overall burden of a variety of diseases worldwide. The association of anthropometric measures of obesity with mortality from various causes and incidence of cancers of various sites has been investigated, but it remains controversial. The aims of this study were to: 1) evaluate the epidemiological nature of the association of anthropometric measures of obesity with mortality from various causes, and to detect a potential threshold in this association; 2) study the epidemiological nature of the association between body mass index and incidence of cancer of different sites, and to detect a potential threshold in the association; 3) compare the strengths of different anthropometric measures of obesity in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality; 4) assess the risk of CVD mortality in relation to obesity and sex in the general population, and also separately for those with or without diabetes at baseline. Study population and Methods: This study was based on data subsets of the Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative analysis Of Diagnostic criteria in Europe (DECODE) study and the National FINRISK study, including 72 947 European men and 62 798 women (I), 26 636 Finnish men and 28 089 women (II), 24 686 European men and 21 965 women (III/IV), and 23 629 European men and 21 965 women (V) aged 24 years or above at baseline. Hazard ratios (HRs) corresponding to categorical or continuous body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) or waist-to-stature ratio (WSR), a body shape index (ABSI) and waist-to-hip-to-height ratio (WHHR) were estimated by the Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for several potential confounding factors measured at baseline. The non-parametric smooth functions of several anthropometric measures of obesity were fitted to health outcomes in order to explore the potential curvilinear relationship using the spline regression model, with a threshold detected by a piecewise regression model (II/III). HR per standard deviation increment of each anthropometric measure of obesity in relation to CVD mortality was compared using the paired homogeneity test (IV). Results: BMI, WC and WHtR had a U- or J-shaped relationship with all-cause mortality (I/III), whereas WHR, ABSI and WHHR had a linear positive relationship with all-cause mortality (III). BMI had a J-shaped relationship with CVD mortality (I/III), whereas anthropometric measures of abdominal obesity (WC, WHR, WHtR and ABSI) had a linear positive relationship with CVD mortality (III). BMI had a U-shaped relationship with cancer mortality in both men and women but disappeared among non-smokers, which showed no association (I). BMI had a linear positive association with incidence of cancers of the colon, liver, kidney, bladder and all sites combined in men, and of cancers of the stomach, colon, gallbladder and ovary in women, an inverse association with incidence of cancers of the lung in…