A groundbreaking study reveals that childhood obesity can dramatically affect cancer survival rates. Researchers found that obese children have a higher risk of cancer relapse and lower overall survival percentages. The study analyzed over 11,000 pediatric cancer patients, showing significant health implications for overweight children. This research underscores the urgent need to address childhood obesity as a serious health concern.
"Our study highlights the negative impact of obesity among all types of childhood cancers." - Thai Hoa Tran by IANS
New Delhi, Jan 13: Obesity at the time of cancer diagnosis in children may affect the survival rates, according to a study on Monday.
Key Points
1. Obesity
linked to 16% higher cancer relapse risk
2. Children
with obesity show lower 5-year survival rates
3. Study
analyzed over 11,000 pediatric cancer patients
4. Acute leukemia and brain tumors most affected
Over 390 million children and adolescents aged 5-19
years were overweight in 2022, including 160 million who were living with
obesity, as per data from the World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity is a
known precursor to many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension,
and cancer.
"Our study highlights the negative impact of
obesity among all types of childhood cancers. It provides the rationale to
evaluate different strategies to mitigate the adverse risk of obesity on cancer
outcomes in future trials," said Thai Hoa Tran from the Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal, Canada.
The team conducted a retrospective study on 11,291
children newly diagnosed with cancer from 2001 to 2020, across Canada.
Of these children, aged 2 to 18 years, 10.5 per cent
were obese at the time of diagnosis.
Compared with patients without obesity at the time of
initial cancer diagnosis, those with obesity had lower rates of 5-year
event-free survival (77.5 per cent versus 79.6 per cent) and overall survival
(83.0 per cent versus 85.9 per cent).
After adjusting for factors including age, sex,
ethnicity, neighborhood income quintile, treatment era, and cancer categories,
the team found that obesity at diagnosis was linked with a 16 per cent increase
in the risk of relapse. There was also a 29 per cent increase in the risk of
death, revealed the study, published in the journal Cancer.
The negative impact of obesity on prognosis was
especially pronounced in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain
tumours, said the team.
The study "also reinforces the urgent need to
reduce the epidemic of childhood obesity as it can result in significant health
consequences," Tran said.
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