Outcomes of patients with breast cancer in function of their body mass index

Objective. - The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes of patients with breast cancer in function of the body mass index (BMI). Methods. - The study cohort consisted of consecutive women undergoing surgery for breast cancer in our institution between January 2009, and September 2013. Individual records of all patients were reviewed and analyzed. Patient BMI was categorized as underweight, normal, overweight and obese. Results. - A total of 1599 patients were evaluated. Patients were followed for one to 265 months with a mean of 36.4 months. The number of patients in each of the BMI categories was 66, 779, 463 and 291 for underweight, normal, overweight and obese women respectively. Women with higher BMI were more frequently affected by hypertension (18, 21, 35 and 47% respectively, P < 0.0001) and diabetes (3, 2, 7 and 7% respectively, P < 0.0001). Obese women had more frequently an inflammatory presentation (P = 0.006), larger tumour size (P = 0.038) and axillary lymph node involvement (P = 0.03) with much more positive lymph nodes (P = 0.02). Patients had the same protocols of treatment (surgery and adjuvant treatment). There was no statistically significant difference in overall 5-years survival between groups (P = 0.30). Conclusions. Our study demonstrate a more aggressive clinical and histological presentation for obese women with breast cancer. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.