Associations between waist circumference, body mass index, HDL cholesterol level, and risk of chronic myeloid leukemia.

Background Emerging evidence suggests that obesity and lipid profiles may be associated with the development of hematologic malignancies. However, their specific roles in the risk of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) remain unclear. This study investigated the associations of waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels with the risk of CML in a large population-based cohort. Methods A total of 3,879,560 adults from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database were followed from 2009 to 2020. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incident CML, adjusting for potential confounders. Results During a mean follow-up of 10.13 ± 1.24 years, 848 incident CML cases were identified. In women, WC ≥ 95 cm was associated with increased CML risk (aHR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.19-3.20), as was BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² (aHR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.23-3.16), compared with reference categories. Higher HDL-C levels were inversely associated with CML risk: Quartile 3 (aHR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.62-0.92) and Quartile 4 (aHR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.67-0.99) relative to Quartile 1. Conclusions Larger WC and higher BMI were associated with increased CML risk, particularly in women, whereas higher HDL-C levels were associated with reduced risk, especially in men. Impact These findings indicate that central and general obesity, along with lipid profiles, may be associated with CML risk. Further research is warranted to investigate the potential impact of modifying these factors on CML risk.