Weight changes after adjuvant treatment in Korean women with early breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Weight gain is a common problem in breast cancer patients and is reported to be associated with poorer survival. However, most data are limited to Western women. We evaluated weight changes after adjuvant treatment in Korean women with early breast cancer.


METHODS
The authors reviewed the records of 260 patients with stage I-III breast cancer treated between June 2003 and February 2006. Body weight, body mass index (BMI) and menopausal status at baseline and after 3, 6, 12 and 24 months of adjuvant treatment were reviewed.


RESULTS
Mean patient age was 47.0 years and 61.1% of women were premenopausal. Among them, 195 patients (75.8%) received chemotherapy and 186 (71.5%) received hormonal therapy. Mean baseline weight was 57.5 +/- 9.8 kg and mean BMI was 23.5 +/- 1.6 kg/m(2) (22.8 +/- 3.0 vs. 24.7 +/- 3.2 kg/m(2) for pre- vs. post-menopausal women, P = 0.286). Mean weight changes were; 0.30 kg at 3 months (P = 0.019); 0.16 kg at 6 months (P = 0.367); -0.34 kg at 1 year (P = 0.082); -0.40 kg at 2 years (P = 0.097). Twenty-three patients (10.4%) gained more than 5% of baseline body weight at 1 year, but no clinical variable was found to be associated with these weight gains.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that Korean women with early breast cancer do not gain weight after adjuvant treatment. Further studies are needed to determine differences between Asian and Western women in terms of weight changes and prognosis in early breast cancer.
Han
Hye-Suk
HS
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, 463-707, Korea.
Lee
Keun-Wook
KW
Kim
Jee Hyun
JH
Kim
Sung-Won
SW
Kim
In-Ah
IA
Oh
Do-Youn
DY
Im
Seock-Ah
SA
Bang
Soo-Mee
SM
Lee
Jong Seok
JS
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015430:Weight Gain
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents