Prospective study of the association of Body Roundness Index with risk of cancer in postmenopausal women

Body Roundness Index (BRI) is an anthropometric measure that combines waist circumference and height. It reflects central adiposity more accurately than body mass index (BMI). Analysis of data of the Women’s Health Initiative examined the relationship between BRI and incident site-specific cancer (n=33,892) in 144,865 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years at enrollment and followed for a median of 17.9 years. BRI was assessed at baseline in all participants and at year 3 in 60% of participants. Cox models estimated associations between BRI and cancer incidence, adjusting for sociodemographic, reproductive, and lifestyle factors. Higher BRI levels were associated with increased risks of kidney, endometrial, liver, esophageal, thyroid, colorectal, stomach, pancreas, bladder, breast, and lung cancers, and with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Adjustment for BMI attenuated associations for endometrial, breast, and kidney cancers but strengthened those for liver, lung, and esophageal cancers. Results were consistent across sensitivity analyses and models incorporating repeated BRI measurements. The authors conclude that among postmenopausal women, higher BRI was associated with increased risk of cancer at multiple sites independently of BMI.