BMI predicts breast cancer survival

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 31 May 2004 - 9:00 PDT

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Increasing body mass index (BMI) is a negative prognostic indicator for women undergoing surgery for breast cancer, research by the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) suggests. Gilles Berclaz (Institute of Medical Oncology, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland) and colleagues reviewed data from 6792 participants in IBCSG chemotherapy and endocrine therapy trials between 1978 and1993.

The team investigated the relationship between patient outcome and BMI, menopausal status, nodal involvement, estrogen and progesterone receptor status, treatment, and tumor size, vessel invasion, and grade.

As reported in the Annals of Oncology, when BMI was assessed as a global univariate prognostic factor, women with a normal BMI achieved significantly longer overall and disease-free survival than overweight or obese women. After taking into account the other risk factors, BMI remained a significant predictive factor for overall but not disease-free survival.

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