April 29, 2019

expert reaction to conference poster looking at kids’ weight and height, and risk of kidney cancer in adulthood

A conference poster presented at the European Congress on Obesity states that heavier and taller children are at greater risk than their average-sized peers of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) as adults.

Dr Hutan Ashrafian, Chief Scientific Adviser, Institute of Global Health Innovation, and Senior Clinical Fellow in Surgery, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, said:

“This research highlights a link between obesity (measured through BMI) and the kidney cancer Renal Cell Carcinoma, which is to be expected.  It also uncovered an additional association between Renal Cell Carcinoma and height, which is a novel finding.

“This adds to other recent studies that suggest height might help as an extra component for some prediction models of cancer.  For the time being however this remains speculative and does not offer any direct biological solutions to this disease.  It would be necessary to identify what elements of height are associated with cancer as this could derive from many factors such as genetics, nutritional status and could ultimately be a by-product of another underlying biological factor.  Whilst these results are new, they remain very early with regard to any firm conclusions regarding Renal Cell Carcinoma assessment or therapy, but may add an additional component with which to further scrutinise this disease.

“This large population study with long-term follow up offers some new insights into the underlying associations of this disease, which is currently poorly understood due to its variations in incidence by geography, genetics and lifestyle.”

Prof Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s cancer prevention expert, said:

“Although there is strong evidence that being overweight as an adult increases the risk of cancer, it’s unclear how childhood weight affects this risk.

“The study suggests there may be an increased risk of kidney cancer later in life for people who were overweight at age 13.  Because we don’t know all of the factors the researchers took into account, this finding could be down to the fact that children who are overweight or obese are more likely to carry excess weight as adults too.  In any case, this research reinforces that keeping a healthy weight is important whatever your age.”

Dr Max Davie, Officer for Health Improvement, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), said:

“We already know that children who are overweight or obese are at increased risk of developing a number of serious conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and as this study further highlights, cancer.

“As this research is in its early stages, we cannot make any strong observations.  However, we know overweight or obese children are much more likely to be overweight or obese adults, so preventing children from becoming overweight in the first place will be essential if we are to stop future generations suffering from these life changing conditions.  The Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan, if delivered in full, will help do this, but this will be too late for some children.  We need services available for children now who are struggling with their weight now and I urgently call upon the Government to provide them.”

Abstract title: ‘Associations between childhood body size and risk of renal cell carcinoma in adulthood’ by Jensen, B. W. et al.  This is a conference talk that was discussed at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow. There is no paper as this is not published work.

Declared interests

None received.