title: Variations in the body mass index in Brazilian women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate variations in the body mass index in patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, and to associate these changes with patient's age and adjuvant chemotherapy regimen.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective cohort study in order to correlate any variation in the body mass index before and after adjuvant chemotherapy with patient's age and adjuvant chemotherapy regimen. Patients who received any form of prior hormone therapy, such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, were excluded. We selected data for 196 patients with stage I to III breast cancer who were treated by radical or conservative surgery and received adjuvant chemotherapy at the Cancer Institute of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Before adjuvant chemotherapy, 67.8% of patients were classified as overweight or obese according to their body mass indices. Around 66.3% (95% CI 59.7-73.0) of the patients exhibited an increase in the body mass index after adjuvant chemotherapy. The average age of all patients was 56.3±11.3 years. Participants whose body mass index increased were younger than those with no increase (54.7±11.1 versus 59.3±11.2 years; p=0.007). Patients were treated with the following adjuvant chemotherapy regimens: doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel (AC-T, 129 patients, 65.8%); 5-fluoracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (36 patients, 18.4%); cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluoracil (16 patients, 8.2%); docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (7 patients, 3.6%); and other regimen (8 patients, 4.1%). The AC-T regimen showed a statistically significant association with increase in the body mass index (p<0.001 by ANOVA).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most patients with breast cancer showed an increase in the body mass index after adjuvant chemotherapy, especially after the AC-T chemotherapy regimen.
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Desídérío
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Carolina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Formigoni
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucia Maria Martins
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Zuliani
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Denis Seiiti
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruna Salani
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Roberto
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Filassi
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Roberto Morales
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Piato
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Edmund Chada
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Baracat