title: Body mass index influences long-term outcome in patients with colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The influence of high Body Mass Index (BMI) on long-term outcome is scarcely known in patients with colorectal carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study was analysed 356 consecutive patients with colorectal carcinoma, in order to address the impact of BMI on patients' characteristics, surgical procedures, and clinical outcomes following radical resection. Patients were divided into the following 3 categories according to BMI; high BMI group (BMI > or = 24.0 kg/m2), middle BMI group (21.0 < or = BMI < 24.0 kg/ m2), and low BMI group (BMI < 21.0 kg/m2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Low BMI was significantly correlated with advanced tumor stage compared with middle BMI group (p < 0.05). The mean number of lymph node dissected per patients of the high BMI group was significantly lower than the middle BMI group (p < 0.05). The 5-year disease-free survival rates of both high and low BMI groups were significantly lower than middle BMI group, respectively. Low and high BMI also became worse independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis, respectively (p < 0.01; low vs. middle, p < 0.05; high vs. middle).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both high and low BMI became independent prognostic factors of disease recurrence in patients with colorectal carcinoma, as low BMI was correlated with tumor progression and high BMI influenced the number of lymph node dissected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kawasaki Hospital, Higashiyama-cho 3-3-1, Hyogo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 652-0042, Japan. shibakita_muneaki@kawasaki-hospital-kobe.or.jp
authors.forename: Muneaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibakita
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Naofumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagasue
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003082:Colectomy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome