Are Noncancer Health Markers and Diseases Associated with Excess Risk for Cancer?

Cancer and noncancer chronic diseases share common risk factors. In a prospective cohort study from Taiwan, researchers evaluated cancer rates in 406,000 adults for whom eight health markers and diseases were measured or diagnosed: heart rate, prehypertension/hypertension, blood total cholesterol level, prediabetes/diabetes, proteinuria, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), pulmonary disease, and blood uric acid level.

After mean follow-up of 8.7 years, six markers and diseases were associated individually with excess risk for cancer (adjusted hazard ratio range, 1.1–1.4): total cholesterol level (≤240 mg/dL in an inverse dose-response relation compared with >240 mg/dL), heart rate (≥90 beats/minute compared with <70 beats/minute), prediabetes/…