Abstract
BACKGROUND
This study evaluated the effects of severe undernutrition during adolescence and subsequent colon carcinoma risk.
METHODS
The authors evaluated The Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer (NLCS) among 62,573 women and 58,279 men aged 55โ69 years at baseline. Information on diet and risk factors was collected by questionnaire in 1986. Additional information was collected concerning residence during the hunger winter (1944โ1945), the World War II years (1940โ1944), and father's employment status during the economic depression of 1932โ1940, which were used as indicators of exposure. After 7.3 years of followโup, 807 colon carcinoma cases (388 females and 419 males) were available for analysis.
RESULTS
Multivariate analysis showed that both men and women who had lived in a western city in 1944โ1945 had a decreased colon carcinoma risk (men: relative risk [RR] = 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62โ1.16; women: RR = 0.80, 95%CI = 0.59โ1.09). No association between colon carcinoma risk and urban versus rural residence was found during the war years (1940โ1944). Having an unemployed father during the economic depression (1932โ1940) was also associated with a small decrease in colon carcinoma risk for men (RR = 0.90, 95% CI =0.62โ1.31) and women (RR = 0.75, 95%CI 0.49โ1.14). In subgroup analyses, a decreased colon carcinoma risk for men and women who were in their adolescent growth spurt and living in a western city during the hunger winter of 1944โ1945 was noted (men: RR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.31โ1.65; women: RR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.40โ1.96). No associations were statistically significant because of the limited study size.
CONCLUSIONS
In the current study, a weak inverse relation was found between energy restriction early in life and subsequent colon carcinoma risk for men and women. However, these findings need replication in a larger study. Cancer 2003;97:46โ55. ยฉ 2003 American Cancer Society.
DOI 10.1002/cncr.11052