BMI and smoking status in the EPIC cohorts
Kroke, A.; Haftenberger, M.; Hoffmann, K.; Boeing, H.
IARC Scientific Publications 156: 253-256
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-5038 PMID: 12484181 Document Number: 541694
This study examined the relationship between obesity (body mass index (BMI) >=30) and smoking status among men and women (aged 50-64 years; n=220 200) from EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) centres in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and UK. Cigarette smoking status was defined as never smokers (NSM), ex-smokers (EXSM) and current smokers (CSM). In men, the prevalence of cigarette smoking varied from 5% among the UK health conscious group to 37.2% among Greek subjects. The prevalence of obesity ranged from 7.3% (UK) to 40.6% (Granada, Spain). In women, the prevalence of smoking varied between 4% (Granada, Spain) and 33.4% (Naples, Italy), while that of obesity ranged from 4.7% (south of France) to 53.5% (Granada, Spain). Nine centres had significant differences in BMI between male NSM and CSM after adjustment for age, educational level, and occupational and sport activity. The BMI of NSM was significantly higher than that of CSM, except for the Florence (Italy) centre, where the BMI of NSM was lower compared to CSM. In 15 centres, female NSM had a significantly higher BMI than CSM. In all centres, male EXSM had significantly higher BMI than CSM. In all but 3 centres, the BMI of female EXSM was higher than that of CSM. When comparing the BMI of NSM with that of EXSM, in all but one centre, male EXSM had significantly higher BMI than NSM. Female EXSM from all centres in France, Germany, UK and in Umea (Sweden) and Florence (Italy) had significantly higher BMI than NSM, while in centres in Asturias, Granada, Navarra (Spain) and Bilthoven (Netherlands), the opposite was true. Among the remaining centres, no significant differences in BMI between EXSM and NSM were observed.