Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25015335›Full record

SynthesisAnnals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology2014

Birth weight and adult cancer incidence: large prospective study and meta-analysis.

T O Yang, G K Reeves, J Green, V Beral, B J Cairns, Million Women Study Collaborators

Abstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Association of high birth weight with risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026
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  18. Childhood Overweight, Tallness, and Growth Increase Risks of Ovarian Cancer.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2019
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Birth weight and risk of childhood solid tumors in Brazil: a record linkage between population-based data sets.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2017
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

T O YangCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: owen.yang@ceu.ox.ac.uk.
G K ReevesCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
J GreenCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
V BeralCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
B J CairnsCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Million Women Study CollaboratorsCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Funding

Cancer Research UK 16491Cancer Research UK C570/A16491Medical Research Council MR/K02700X/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMost evidence about associations between birth weight and adult cancer risk comes from studies linking birth records to cancer registration data, where information on known risk factors for cancer is generally lacking. Here, we report on associations between birth weight and cause-specific cancer risk in a large cohort of UK women, and investigate how observed associations are affected by other factors.

methodsA total of 453 023 women, born in the 1930s and 1940s, reported their birth weight, maternal smoking, parental heights, age at menarche, adult height, adult smoking, and many other personal characteristics. They were followed for incident cancer. Using Cox regression, relative risks by birth weight were estimated for cancers with more than 1500 incident cases, adjusting for 17 potential confounding factors, individually and simultaneously.

resultsBirth weight reported in adulthood was strongly correlated with that recorded at birth (correlation coefficient = 0.78, P < 0.0001). Reported birth weight was associated with most of the potential confounding factors examined, the strongest association being with adult height. After 9.2 years follow-up per woman, 39 060 incident cancers were registered (4414 colorectal, 3175 lung, 1795 malignant melanoma, 14 542 breast, 2623 endometrial, 2009 ovarian, 1565 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and 8937 other cancers). Associations with birth weight were null or weak and reduced after adjustment by adult height (P[trend] > 0.01 for every cancer, after adjustment). In contrast, adult height was strongly related to the risk of every cancer except lung cancer, after adjusting for birth weight and other factors (P[trend] < 0.0001 for most cancers). For lung cancer, adjusting for smoking reduced the association with birth weight. Meta-analyses were dominated by our findings.

conclusionBirth weight and adult height are correlated and likely to be markers of some aspect of growth that affects cancer risk in adulthood. However, birth weight adds little, if any, additional information to adult height as a predictor of cancer incidence in women.

Indexed as

Birth WeightBody HeightFemaleHumansMiddle AgedNeoplasmsProspective StudiesRisk Factorsbirth weightcancergrowthheight

Identifiers

PMID25015335
PMCPMC4143092

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.