Plus d'informations
A new epidemiological study led by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the University of Regensburg, Germany, reveals that obesity may increase cancer risk even before clinical signs of metabolic or organ dysfunction are detectable. The study is the first to apply a revised obesity classification framework in the context of cancer development, highlighting the need to distinguish between preclinical and clinical obesity. The results were published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
The findings indicate that individuals with preclinical obesity already face a significantly elevated cancer risk, even without metabolic or organ dysfunction. Clinical obesity, characterized by both excess adiposity and organ dysfunction, was associated with even higher cancer risks, particularly for metabolically driven malignancies such as liver, colorectal, endometrial, pancreatic, and lung cancers.
Previous cancer risk assessments have predominantly relied on body mass index (BMI), a simple measure of weight relative to height that does not account for fat distribution, body composition, or metabolic health. The new study addressed this gap by leveraging data from more than 450 000 adults in the UK Biobank cohort. During an average follow-up of nearly 12 years, 47 060 new cancer cases were recorded. The researchers used a newly proposed classification from the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission, which differentiates preclinical obesity, defined by excess adiposity without detectable organ dysfunction, from clinical obesity, in which excess body fat coexists with dysfunction in physiological systems.
The implications of this study extend to public health policies, potentially advocating for earlier intervention strategies focused on preventing organ dysfunction among individuals with excess adiposity, even before metabolic abnormalities become clinically apparent. Integrating metabolic health parameters into routine care could support targeted prevention and reduce the obesity-related cancer burden in the population.
This research was funded by World Cancer Research Fund, the French National Cancer Institute (INCa), and the German Research Foundation.
Leitzmann MF, Stein MJ, Baurecht H, Freisling H.
Excess adiposity and cancer: evaluating a preclinical-clinical obesity framework for risk stratification
eClinicalMedicine. Published online 12 May 2025;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103247
