Among cancer survivors, excess body weight is associated with an increased risk for a second primary malignant neoplasm, according to a study published online Sept. 17 in JAMA Network Open.

Clara Bodelon, Ph.D., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues examined whether excess body weight is associated with the risk for a second primary malignant neoplasm among cancer survivors using data from the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition cohort. Eligible participants had received a diagnosis of first primary nonmetastatic invasive cancer between 1992 and 2015 (26,894 participants; mean age at first cancer diagnosis, 72.2 years).

At the time of first diagnosis, 42.8 and 17.2% of the participants had overweight and obesity, respectively. The researchers found that 13.9% of the participants received a diagnosis of second primary cancer during a median follow-up of 7.9 years, of which 33.2% were obesity-related second primary cancers.

The risk for any second primary cancer was increased for those who had overweight and obesity compared with cancer survivors whose body mass index was in the normal range (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.15 and 1.34, respectively), with greater risks for obesity-related second primary cancers (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.40 and 1.78, respectively).

“Given the high prevalence of overweight and obesity among cancer survivors, these findings have important public health implications and may inform evidence-based survivorship guidelines to reduce the risk of second primary cancers among cancer survivors,” the authors write.

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