The impact of overweight duration and intensity during adulthood on the prognosis after a cancer diagnosis remains largely unknown. We investigated this association in Swedish women with breast and colorectal cancer.
A cohort of 47,051 women from the Swedish Lifestyle and Health Study was included, of whom 1,241 developed postmenopausal breast (mean age at diagnosis, 57.5 years) and 259 colorectal (mean age at diagnosis, 59.1 years) cancer. Trajectories of body mass index (BMI) between ages 20 and 50 years were estimated for the full cohort using a quadratic growth model and studied in relation to risk of death from any cause using multivariate Cox regression models among cancer survivors.
Compared with patients with cancer who were never overweight (BMI