ASPO Abstracts
Association of albumin and colorectal cancer incidence in the Southern Community Cohort Study
Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2022
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Increased inflammation is a proposed mechanism defining the association between obesity and increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. We assessed the association between albumin, a biomarker of inflammation, and CRC incidence in a cohort that consists predominantly of African American and low-SES participants, two sub-populations disproportionately affected by CRC and obesity in the U.S. Methods: Participant data arise from 904 Southern Community Cohort Study participants, where 69% of participants were African American, and 55% had income <$15,000. Eligible participants were diagnosed with incident CRC and had serum albumin measurements; controls were matched 2:1 on age, sex, and race. Conditional logistic regression determined odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the associations of serum albumin concentration with CRC incidence, overall and stratified by sex, race, time since blood draw, and obesity status (BMI‚â•30). All analyses were adjusted for education, smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, CRC screening, and family history of CRC.Results: Serum albumin concentration was inversely associated with CRC risk, where the OR for per-standard-deviation increase was 0.86 (95% CI 0.74-0.99). Associations were strongest in participants with BMI ‚â•30 (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.66-0.94), who were female (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.98), African American (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68-0.97), and diagnosed 5 or more years from blood draw (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.64-0.93). Conclusions: Our results support the role of an inflammatory mechanism in the association between obesity and CRC risk as low serum albumin can indicate a systemic inflammatory state, particularly in overweight and obese individuals. Our results show a consistent association between lower albumin concentrations and increasing CRC risk that is more prominent in obese participants. Previous studies have also reported lower average serum albumin in African Americans in comparison to whites, so the stronger association between low albumin and CRC risk found in African Americans in our study may also represent a contributing factor to the disproportionate burden of CRC in this sub-population.
Keywords: Adiposity, albumin, biomarkers, colorectal cancer