ReviewCancer research2018
The Plausibility of Obesity Paradox in Cancer-Point.
Review in Cancer research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
84 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.
- Imaging-based adipose biomarkers for predicting clinical outcomes of cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a systematic review.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Prognostic impact of sarcopenia in patients with head and neck cancer treated with surgery or radiation: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Transcriptome Profiling of Adipose Tissue Reveals Depot-Specific Metabolic Alterations Among Patients with Colorectal Cancer.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2019Trial
- Metabolic predictors of response to immunotherapy in locally advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer: unveiling the obesity paradox.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Cancer risk and mortality assessment in the overweight population: evaluation of single and integrated models based on inflammatory markers.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Article
- Beyond weight: a stigma-free, integrated approach to obesity in patients affected by cancer.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Beyond Weight Loss: A Comprehensive Review of Integrated Pharmacotherapy and Metabolic Bariatric Surgery in Endometrial Cancer Care.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Chronic High-Fat Diet Does Not Alter Overall Cancer Incidence in Trp53R270H/+ Mice.Cancer research communications · 2026Article
- Variation in image-assessed abdominal adiposity and skeletal muscle and their associations with pathological characteristics in renal cell carcinoma.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Right-sided cardiogenic shock from acute pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy: a rare but deadly cardio-oncologic and metabolic emergency.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2026Article
- Brown adipose tissue and tumor presence: a retrospective association analysis considering the role of body mass index.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Review
- Risk of cancer following presentation with new-onset atrial fibrillation using data from UK national databases.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025Article
- Body mass index, waist circumference and the association with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a 7.2-year follow-up cohort study in Shanghai, China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Adiposity Status Close to Diagnosis and Its Association with Prostate Cancer Survival in the UK Biobank.Cancer research communications · 2025Article
- Body Composition at Diagnosis and Early Response in Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- Associations between body mass index and gastroesophageal cancer incidence and mortality: novel insights from a nationwide registry-based cohort study.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2025Article
- Joint association of systemic inflammatory response index and sarcopenia with mortality among individuals with self-reported cancer.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Pre-diagnostic risk factors for brain cancer incidence and survival: insights from the Golestan Cohort Study.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Association between novel adiposity parameters and hyperuricemia: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In contrast to the convincing evidence that obesity (measured by body mass index, BMI) increases the risk of many different types of cancer, there is an ambiguity in the role of obesity in survival among cancer patients. Some studies suggested that higher BMI decreased mortality risk in cancer patients, a phenomenon called the obesity paradox. The spurious positive association between BMI and cancer survival is likely to be explained by several methodologic limitations including confounding, reverse causation, and collider stratification bias. Also, the inadequacy of BMI as a measure of body fatness in cancer patients commonly experiencing changes in body weight and body composition may have resulted in the paradox. Other factors contributing to the divergent results in literature are significant heterogeneity in study design and method (e.g., study population, follow-up length); time of BMI assessment (pre-, peri-, or post-diagnosis); and lack of consideration for variability in the strength and directions of associations by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and cancer subtype. Robust but practical methods to accurately assess body fatness and body compositions and weight trajectories in cancer survivors are needed to advance this emerging field and to develop weight guidelines to improve both the length and the quality of cancer survival.
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.