title: The Role of Body Mass Index in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has none of the targeted treatment choices due to its distinct biological property, making this subtype a unique disease. In this study, we evaluated the impact of obesity on clinical outcomes of TNBC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data of breast cancer patients admitted to our department were collected. TNBC was defined as lack of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER-2. The body mass index (BMI) of 112 TNBC patients was calculated with weight at the time of diagnosis and height. The patients were classified into groups with a BMI of < 25 (normal/underweight), 25-29.9 (overweight) or ≥ 30 (obese). After a mean follow-up of 23.2 ± 15.5 months, there were 12 recurrences (10.71%) and 6 deaths (5.35%). Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The survival analyses of all the patients did not demonstrate any differences in OS or DFS in obese as compared to non-obese patients. However, we showed that obesity was associated with a poorer OS for postmenopausal TNBC patients (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity is related to a poorer OS in postmenopausal TNBC patients. Due to the heterogeneous disease profile of TNBC, larger randomized studies will be needed to clarify the exact role of obesity in TNBC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, Yunus Emre State Hospital, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Burcu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cakar
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Muslu
authors.forename: Atike P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.forename: Melih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozisik
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozisik
authors.forename: Ceyda
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tunakan Dalgic
authors.forename: Raika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Durusoy
authors.forename: Burcak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karaca
authors.forename: Canfeza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sezgin
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karabulut
authors.forename: Ruchan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uslu
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D017698:Postmenopause; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015996:Survival Rate; D064726:Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology