ArticleBMC cancer2014
The impact of a cancer diagnosis on weight change: findings from prospective, population-based cohorts in the UK and the US.
Article in BMC cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Remnant cholesterol inflammatory index and its association with new-onset chronic diseases: evidence from two nationwide studies.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Article
- The influence of sarcopenia on health-related quality of life among older patients with gastrointestinal cancer: an assessment using the SarQoLAging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Weight Change and Accumulation of Chronic Conditions in Women During Reproductive Years.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Article
- Weight Change after Cancer Diagnosis and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus: A Population-Based Nationwide Study.Cancer research and treatment · 2025Article
- Plasma Aromatase Activity Index, Gonadotropins and Estrone Are Associated with Frailty Syndrome in Post-Menopausal Women with Breast Cancer.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2022Article
- Gender Differences in Factors Associated with Clinically Meaningful Weight Loss among Adults Who Were Overweight or Obese: A Population-Based Cohort Study.Obesity facts · 2021Article
- Multiple health behaviors before and after a cancer diagnosis among women: A repeated cross-sectional analysis over 15 years.Cancer medicine · 2020Article
- Compliance with Multiple Health Behaviour Recommendations: A Cross-Sectional Comparison between Female Cancer Survivors and Those with no Cancer History.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Article
- Do cancer survivors develop healthier lifestyle behaviors than the cancer-free population in the PLCO study?Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObesity is a risk factor for cancer incidence and survival, but data on patterns of weight change in cancer survivors are scarce and few stratify by pre-diagnosis weight status. In two population-based cohorts of older adults, we examined weight change in cancer survivors and cancer-free controls in relation to baseline weight status.
methodsIn the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we identified participants diagnosed with cancer who had pre- and post-diagnosis BMI data (ELSA n=264; HRS n=2553), and cancer-free controls (ELSA n=1538; HRS n=4946). Repeated-measures ANOVAs tested three-way interactions by group (cancer/control), time (pre-/post-diagnosis), and pre-diagnosis weight status (normal-weight/overweight/obese).
resultsMean BMI change was -0.07 (SD=2.22) in cancer survivors vs. +0.14 (SD=1.11) in cancer-free controls in ELSA, and -0.20 (SD=2.84) vs. +0.11 (SD=0.93) respectively in HRS. Three-way interactions were significant in both cohorts (ELSA p=.015; HRS p<.001). In ELSA, mean BMI change in normal-weight cancer survivors was +0.19 (SD=1.53) compared with -0.33 (SD=3.04) in obese survivors. In ELSA controls, the respective figures were +0.09 (SD=0.81) and +0.16 (SD=1.50). In HRS, mean change in normal-weight cancer survivors was +0.07 (SD=2.30) compared with -0.72 (SD=3.53) in obese survivors. In HRS controls, the respective figures were +0.003 (SD=0.66) and +0.27 (SD=1.27).
conclusionOver a four-year period, in two cohorts of older adults, cancer survivors lost weight relative to cancer-free controls. However, cancer survivors who were obese pre-diagnosis were more likely to lose weight than healthy-weight survivors or obese adults without a cancer diagnosis. Whether this was due to differences in clinical status or deliberate lifestyle change triggered by the cancer diagnosis is not known. Further research is needed to establish why weight loss occurs more frequently in cancer survivors who were obese at diagnosis, and whether this has favourable effects on mortality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.