• María Luisa Garmendia, Pablo Ruiz, and Ricardo Uauy.
• Rev Med Chil. 2013 Aug 1;141(8):987-94.

BackgroundObesity is a risk factor for the development of certain types of cancer.AimTo estimate the proportion of cancers potentially attributable to obesity in men and women in Chile based on the calculation of population attributable fractions (PAF %).Material And MethodsCancer sites studied were those where obesity is a known risk factor based on the updated World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) analysis. Namely, colorectal, endometrium, esophagus, breast, pancreas, kidney and gallbladder cancers were analyzed. Overall and specific PAFs% were calculated for cancer sites and sex from known estimates of relative risk and national prevalence of overweight and obesity.ResultsThe overall estimates of cancer PAF% for obesity were approximately 20%, without differences between men and women. Highest cancer PAFs% were for endometrial (47%) in women, and esophageal (35%) and pancreatic (31%) in men. The largest sex differences in PAFs% were for gallbladder (higher in women) and colorectal (higher in men). Results are closer to those reported from developed countries (USA and United Kingdom) than those from developing countries (Brasil, China).ConclusionsIn Chile about 20% of all cancers could be prevented by obesity prevention and control strategies.

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