Association of serum lipids and abnormal lipid score with cancer risk: a population-based prospective study

Background Serum lipid levels are associated with cancer risk. However, there still have uncertainties about the single and combined effects of low lipid levels on cancer risk. Methods A prospective cohort study of 33,773 adults in Shanghai between 2016 and 2017 was conducted. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were measured. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the association of single and combined lipids with overall, lung, colon, rectal, thyroid gland, stomach, and female breast cancers. The effect of the combination of abnormal lipid score and lifestyle on cancer was also estimated. Results A total of 926 incident cancer cases were identified. In the RCS analysis, hazard ratios (HRs) of overall cancer for individuals with TC