Association between Body Mass Index and Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAEs) among Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Pan-Cancer Analysis

Dongyu Zhang; Neil J. Shah; Michael Cook; Matthew Blackburn; Michael T. Serzan; Shailesh Advani; Arnold L. Potosky; Subha Madhavan; Anas Belouali; Michael B. Atkins; Dejana Braithwaite

doi:10.3390/cancers13236109

Cancers (Dec 2021)

Association between Body Mass Index and Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAEs) among Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Pan-Cancer Analysis

Dongyu Zhang,
Neil J. Shah,
Michael Cook,
Matthew Blackburn,
Michael T. Serzan,
Shailesh Advani,
Arnold L. Potosky,
Subha Madhavan,
Anas Belouali,
Michael B. Atkins,
Dejana Braithwaite

Affiliations

Dongyu Zhang: Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA
Neil J. Shah: Department of Medicine, Solid Tumor Genitourinary Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
Michael Cook: Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Matthew Blackburn: Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Michael T. Serzan: Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Shailesh Advani: Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Arnold L. Potosky: Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
Subha Madhavan: Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
Anas Belouali: Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
Michael B. Atkins: Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Dejana Braithwaite: Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13236109
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 23
p. 6109

Abstract

Read online

Evidence regarding the association between body mass index (BMI) and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) among cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is limited. Here, we use cross-sectional hospital-based data to explore their relationship. Pre-treatment BMI was treated as an ordinal variable (2). The outcome of interest was irAEs after ICI initiation. A multivariable logistic regression model estimated the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of BMI. A total of 684 patients with stage III or IV cancer were included in the study (lung: 269, melanoma: 204, other: 211). The mean age at the first dose of ICI was 64.1 years (SD = 13.5), 394 patients (57.6%) were male, and over one-third (N = 260, 38.0%) were non-White. Overall, 52.9% of patients had BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 (25 to ≤30: 217, ≥30: 145) and 288 (42.1%) had irAEs after ICI treatment. Patients with higher BMI tended to have a higher rate of irAEs (p-trend = 0.04). In conclusion, among patients with advanced cancer receiving ICIs, the rate of irAEs appears to be higher among those with higher BMI.

Published in Cancers

ISSN: 2072-6694 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords