Research

Mixed

High adiposity (specifically visceral adipose tissue) is associated with increased mortality risk in women with early-stage colorectal cancer, but this association is not significant in men.

For women with colorectal cancer, high levels of body fat (especially visceral fat) may increase mortality risk, unlike in men. This suggests that women might benefit from specific attention to body composition, ensuring adequate muscle mass while managing adiposity, rather than just focusing on weight.

GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
In contrast, women characterized as having high adiposity (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.99–1.71) and those characterized as having both low muscle mass and high adiposity (HR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.05–2.57) had a higher risk of overall mortality.
Bette J. Caan et al. · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · 2017

Why this rating

Large cohort, sex-stratified analysis, objective CT measures.

Source

Explaining the Obesity Paradox: The Association between Body Composition and Colorectal Cancer Survival (C-SCANS Study)

Bette J. Caan et al. · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · 2017

DOI 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-17-0200

cohort · n=3262Cited 352×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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