Body Mass Index and Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Korean Breast Cancer

Abstract

Purpose:

The relationship between neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and body mass index (BMI) in breast cancer patients has been reported in many studies. Which have suggested that obesity is associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer patients in Western countries, but not in breast cancer patients from Asian countries. We studied the relationship between response to chemotherapy, survival and BMI.

Methods:

A total of 217 Korean breast cancer patients were enrolled in the study, and 170 underwent magnetic resonance imaging scan prior to chemotherapy. The BMI of the patients was calculated using their age, weight, and height. The following factors were analyzed: chemotherapy regimen, tumor size before and after NAC, surgical procedure, pathological tumor size, lymph node status, nuclear grade, histological grade, hormone receptor status, and epidermal growth factor receptor expression. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined using recent medical records. According to the World Health Organization’s classification of BMI, patients were divided into four groups: ≤18.5, underweight; 18.5 to 24.9, normal weight; 25 to 29.9, overweight; ≥30, obesity. The underweight and normal weight patients were combined to from group A, whereas the overweight and obese patients were combined to from group B. DFS and OS were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results:

In this study, there were 113 patients (66.5%) in group A, and 57 patients (33.5%) in group B. When the two groups were compared, age was the only factor that showed a statistically significant difference. Clinical complete remission (p=0.98), pathological complete remission (p=0.63), OS (p=0.64), and DFS (p=0.10) did not correlate with BMI.

Conclusion:

Treatment response and survival were not associated with BMI in Korean breast cancer patients who received NAC.