Impact of body-mass index on the outcome of adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Background Obesity increases the risk of treatment-related complications and reduces survival in children with acute myeloid leukemia. Little is known about the impact of obesity on the outcome of adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Design and Methods We compared the baseline characteristics and effect on treatment and survival in 1,974 previously untreated adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing treatment, according to international classification of body-mass index. Results The median body-mass index was 26.7 (15.5-61) and 63% of patients were overweight/obese. After adjustment for other confounders, such as age, gender, performance status, karyotype, white blood cell, platelet and peripheral blast counts, obese patients had better complete remission rates (P=0.0046), lower rates of resistant disease (P=0.038) but similar rates of survival and severe adverse events. Conclusions In the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in adults, obesity was associated with increased response rates and no apparent increase in toxicity. Obesity should not, therefore, be a criterion for excluding patients from aggressive therapy.