Effect of Body Mass Index on Survival in Patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Higher body mass index (BMI) is an independent and well-established prognostic factor in hormonerelatedcancers, such as breast and endometrial cancer. As a hormone-dependent cancer, ovarian cancer, however, has been linked inconsistently to obesity. Aim: This work aimed to assess the association between BMI and ovarian cancer survival.Methods: This retrospective study included 66 patients who were treated for epithelial ovarian cancer from January 2011to April 2014. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients were collected. Time to progression and overall survival were calculated. BMI was calculated using the formula weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters, and categorized according to World Health Organization classification.Results: BMI indicated underweight in 3 patients (4.5%), healthy weight range in11 (16.7%), pre-obesity in 17 (25.8%),obesity class I in 13 (19.7%), obesity class II in 8 (12.1%) and obesity class III in 14 (21.2%). BMI did not associate significantly with disease stage (p=0.54), pathology (p=0.82), initial CA-125 level (p=0.61), platinum sensitivity(p=0.27), time to progression (p=0.58) or overall survival (p=0.87).Conclusion: Our results suggest prevalence of obesity (relatively high) among Egyptian patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Noteworthy, BMI had no significant association with disease stage, platinum sensitivity, time-to-progression or overall survival in the studied group.

Keywords

• ovarian carcinoma
• body mass index
• survival