title: High body-mass index is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in predominantly obese breast cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. A high body-mass index (BMI) is related to increased incidence of BC with poorer prognosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to evaluate the association in patients with BC between BMI at the time of diagnosis and biological characteristics, according to the menopausal status.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study comprised a total of 318 women with BC. Clinicopathological differences between normal, overweight and obese patients according to menopausal status were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Premenopausal women had a significantly lower BMI than postmenopausal patients (28.7 vs. 31.5, respectively; p = 0.00001). No statistically significant association was determined between BMI and clinicopathological characteristics in either the premenopausal or the postmenopausal group (all p values are > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are many conflicting results in literature on this relationship. The results of this study showed that a high BMI is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in a predominantly obese population. In current medical oncology practice, BC should be evaluated on an individual patient basis and the impact of obesity on BC prognosis seems to be difficult to estimate especially in an obese population.
authors.affiliation: Samsun Education and Research Hospital, Department of Medical Oncology, Samsun 55100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kemal
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Demirag
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Teker
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kut
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kefeli
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ekiz
authors.affiliation: 19 Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Samsun 55270, Turkey.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yucel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000473:pathology*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies