Obesity may be driving the rising number of uterine cancer cases in the United States, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Gynecologic Oncology.
Uterine cancer includes two types of cancer: endometrial cancer (which is more common) and uterine sarcoma (which is rare). This study focused mainly on endometrial cancer, which starts in the lining of the uterus.
Researchers already know that uterine cancer is unusual because, unlike most cancers, more women in the U.S. keep getting it and dying from it each year. To get a clearer picture of how much obesity is driving this problem and whether it affects some groups more than others, researchers combined two large sets of U.S. health data covering the years 1990 to 2023 and studied both nationwide trends and individual people.
At the individual level, the study found a clear pattern: the higher a woman’s weight, the higher her chance of getting uterine cancer. And this pattern has grown stronger over the years.
Women in the highest weight group were nearly twice as likely to develop uterine cancer compared to women in the lowest weight group.
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The study also found that uterine cancer does not affect all parts of the U.S. the same way. West Virginia and Mississippi, which have higher obesity rates and lower average income and education levels, were the hardest-hit states. The authors found both states were experiencing a rapid increase in both uterine cancer cases and deaths.
Read more about endometrial cancer risk factors
“Our study clearly delineates a picture of ‘geographic inequality’ in the uterine cancer burden within the U.S.,” the researchers said. This points to an urgent need for programs that fight both obesity and unfair health gaps between rich and poor areas.
“Future research should continue to explore the underlying mechanisms driving these inequalities and evaluate the effectiveness of targeted interventions,” they said.
