ReviewNature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology2018
Adiposity and gastrointestinal cancers: epidemiology, mechanisms and future directions.
Review in Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 122 papers, 9 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
122 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Suicide risk and mortality among patients with cancers of the digestive system: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Human blood metabolites and gastric cancer: a Mendelian randomization analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2024Pooled it
- Association of metabolic obesity phenotypes with risk of overall and site-specific cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.British journal of cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Association of sugar-sweetened beverages with the risk of colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Side-effects of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal cancers.PeerJ · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic review of Mendelian randomization studies on risk of cancer.BMC medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer: An Umbrella Review of Observational and Mendelian Randomization Studies.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2021Pooled it
- Body mass index and colorectal cancer risk: A Mendelian randomization study.Cancer science · 2021Pooled it
- Physical Activity and the Risk of Liver Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies and a Bias Analysis.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2019Pooled it
- Transcriptome Profiling of Adipose Tissue Reveals Depot-Specific Metabolic Alterations Among Patients with Colorectal Cancer.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2019Trial
- Sex and Gender Perspective in Obesity and Gastric Cancer.The world journal of men's health · 2026Review
- Disparities in Cancer Incidence by Sex and Associated Lifestyle Factors and Health Conditions.JAMA oncology · 2026Article
- Higher Daytime Light Exposure Predicts Lower Risk of Gastrointestinal Cancer Incidence and Mortality.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Machine learning-based gastric cancer risk prediction in an asymptomatic screening population: a retrospective cohort study.Journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2026Article
- Mechanistic Insights into Pancreatic Lipase Inhibition by Pea-Derived Peptides: Integrating Process Optimization, Activity Assays, Docking, and Molecular Dynamics.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A Nomogram for Predicting Metachronous Gastric Cancer After Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Early Gastric Cancer Following SuccessfulJournal of gastric cancer · 2026Article
- Exploring the nexus: Clinical and physiological correlation between cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Metabolomic insights into associations between adiposity markers and liver cancer risk: Results from a prospective cohort study and Mendelian randomization analysis.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Type 2 Diabetes and Gastrointestinal Cancers: Risk Associations and Awareness of Screening Challenges.Cancers · 2025Review
- The application of organoids in treatment decision-making for digestive system cancers: progress and challenges.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
62 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Excess adiposity is a risk factor for several cancers of the gastrointestinal system, specifically oesophageal adenocarcinoma and colorectal, small intestine, pancreatic, liver, gallbladder and stomach cancers. With the increasing prevalence of obesity in nearly all regions of the world, this relationship could represent a growing source of cancers of the digestive system. Experimental and molecular epidemiological studies indicate important roles for alterations in insulin signalling, adipose tissue-derived inflammation and sex hormone pathways in mediating the association between adiposity and gastrointestinal cancer. The intestinal microbiome, gut hormones and non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) also have possible roles. However, important gaps remain in our knowledge. For instance, our understanding of how adiposity throughout the life course is related to the risk of gastrointestinal cancer development and of how obesity influences gastrointestinal cancer prognosis and survival is limited. Nonetheless, the increasing use of state-of-the-art analytical methods (such as omics technologies, Mendelian randomization and MRI) in large-scale epidemiological studies offers exciting opportunities to advance our understanding of the complex relationship between adiposity and gastrointestinal cancers. Here, we examine the epidemiology of associations between obesity and gastrointestinal cancer, explore potential mechanisms underlying these relationships and highlight important unanswered research questions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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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.