Obesity increases risk of endometrial cancer

Obesity and low physical activity in women may expose them to a high risk of developing endometrial cancer, a disease involving the lining of the uterus.Obesity is a well-known risk factor for endometrial cancer. But the effect of physical activity, height, and adult weight gain on the risk of the cancer is unclear.Researchers from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands, analysed the data from 62,573 women who participated in the study. During follow-up from 1986 to 1995, a total of 226 women developed endometrial cancer.

The risk of endometrial cancer rose as height increased, but the trend fell short of statistical significance, meaning that it may have just occurred by chance.According to the report, obesity was tied to a heightened risk of endometrial cancer. Obese women were 4.5 times more likely to develop this cancer than their normal-weight peers. Moreover, the more weight a woman gained after 20 years of age, the greater was the risk of acquiring endometrial cancer.

Low physical activity also affected cancer risk adversely. Compared with women who spent at least 90 minutes per day doing non-work-related physical activity, women who spent less than 30 minutes per day were 46 per cent more likely to develop endometrial cancer.
The findings suggest that the increasing epidemic of obesity and the lack of physical activity may increase incidence of endometrial cancer in the coming years.

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