Body Mass Index, Cigarette Smoking, and Alcohol Consumption and Cancers of the Oral Cavity, Pharynx, and Larynx: Modeling Odds Ratios in Pooled Case-Control Data

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology Vol. 171; no. 12; pp. 1250 - 1261
• Main Authors: Lubin, Jay H., Gaudet, Mia M., Olshan, Andrew F., Kelsey, Karl, Boffetta, Paolo, Brennan, Paul, Castellsague, Xavier, Chen, Chu, Curado, Maria Paula, Maso, Luigino Dal, Daudt, Alexander W., Fabianova, Eleonora, Fernandez, Leticia, Wünsch-Filho, Victor, Franceschi, Silvia, Herrero, Rolando, Koifman, Sergio, La Vecchia, Carlo, Lazarus, Philip, Levi, Fabio, Lissowska, Jolanta, Mates, Ioan Nicolae, Matos, Elena, McClean, Michael, Menezes, Ana, Morgenstern, Hal, Muscat, Joshua, Neto, Jose Eluf, Purdue, Mark P., Rudnai, Peter, Schwartz, Stephen M., Shangina, Oxana, Sturgis, Erich M., Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonilia, Talamini, Renato, Wei, Qingyi, Winn, Deborah, Zhang, Zuo-Feng, Hashibe, Mia, Hayes, Richard B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 15.06.2010; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: alcohol drinking; Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects; Alcohol use; Alcoholic beverages; Body Mass Index; Case-Control Studies; Cigarettes; Epidemiology; Head & neck cancer; Humans; laryngeal neoplasms; Laryngeal Neoplasms - etiology; mouth neoplasms; Mouth Neoplasms - etiology; Odds Ratio; pharyngeal neoplasms; Pharyngeal Neoplasms - etiology; Risk Factors; Smoking; Smoking - adverse effects; statistical; Systematic Reviews and Meta- and Pooled Analyses; Tumors
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwq088

Odds ratios for head and neck cancer increase with greater cigarette and alcohol use and lower body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height2 (m2)). Using data from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, the authors conducted a formal analysis of BMI as a modifier of smoking- and alcohol-related effects. Analysis of never and current smokers included 6,333 cases, while analysis of never drinkers and consumers of ≤10 drinks/day included 8,452 cases. There were 8,000 or more controls, depending on the analysis. Odds ratios for all sites increased with lower BMI, greater smoking, and greater drinking. In polytomous regression, odds ratios for BMI (P = 0.65), smoking (P = 0.52), and drinking (P = 0.73) were homogeneous for oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers. Odds ratios for BMI and drinking were greater for oral cavity/pharyngeal cancer (P < 0.01), while smoking odds ratios were greater for laryngeal cancer (P < 0.01). Lower BMI enhanced smoking- and drinking-related odds ratios for oral cavity/pharyngeal cancer (P < 0.01), while BMI did not modify smoking and drinking odds ratios for laryngeal cancer. The increased odds ratios for all sites with low BMI may suggest related carcinogenic mechanisms; however, BMI modification of smoking and drinking odds ratios for cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx but not larynx cancer suggests additional factors specific to oral cavity/pharynx cancer.