Body mass index is not associated with treatment outcomes of breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy: korean data.
OBJECTIVE
The effects of body mass index on pathologic complete response and survival have not been reported in Korean patients with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive or prognostic value of obesity in breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.


METHODS
A total of 438 stage II or III breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled and analyzed retrospectively.


RESULTS
In the study, 319 patients (72.8%) were normal weight, 100 patients (22.8%) were overweight, and 19 patients (4.3%) were obese. Baseline clinicopathologic characteristics were not different among the groups, except for age. There were no differences in pathologic complete response rate between the groups (9.7% in normal weight, 10.0% in overweight, 5.3% in obese; p=0.804). Neither overweight nor obese patients showed a significant difference in relapse-free survival compared to normal weight patients (p=0.523 and p=0.931, respectively). Also, no significant difference in overall survival (p=0.520 and p=0.864, respectively) was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity or higher body mass index was not significantly associated with pathologic complete response and survival in Korean patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Our results suggest that the prognostic impact of body mass index is different from that of Western patients.
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. ; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Kyung-Hun
KH
Lee
Bhumsuk
B
Keam
Seock-Ah
SA
Im
Tae-Yong
TY
Kim
Sae-Won
SW
Han
Do-Youn
DY
Oh
Jee Hyun
JH
Kim
Se-Hoon
SH
Lee
Wonshik
W
Han
Dong-Wan
DW
Kim
Tae-You
TY
Kim
In Ae
IA
Park
Dong-Young
DY
Noh
Dae Seog
DS
Heo
Yung-Jue
YJ
Bang
Breast neoplasms; Neoadjuvant therapy; Obesity; Prognosis