Tobacco, alcohol, body mass index, physical activity, and the risk of head and neck cancer in the prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian (PLCO) cohort
Head & Neck,
Clinical Article
Hashibe M et al. – Cigarette smoking is clearly the most important head and neck cancer risk factor in this population. The reduced cancer risk due to physical activity was consistent with results from a pooled analysis of case–control studies.
Methods- In the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial, of the 101,182 study subjects, 177 individuals developed head and neck cancer.
- The proportion of head and neck cancer cases attributed to tobacco and/or alcohol was 66% (50.5% tobacco alone, 14.7% alcohol alone, 0.9% tobacco and alcohol combined).
- BMI was not associated with head and neck cancer risk, but increasing hours of physical activity per week was associated with a reduced head and neck cancer risk (odds ratio [OR]=0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.35-0.96).
