Scientific Reports (Aug 2017)

Body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and late outcomes: a report from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study

  • Minlu Zhang,
  • Hui Cai,
  • Pingping Bao,
  • Wanghong Xu,
  • Guoyou Qin,
  • Xiao Ou Shu,
  • Ying Zheng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07320-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Obesity has been well studied in relation to breast cancer survival. However, the associations of post-diagnosis obesity and late outcomes (≥5 years after diagnosis) have been much less studied. A total of 4062 5-year disease-free patients were recruited from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, a longitudinal study of patients diagnosed during 2002-2006. Cox proportional hazard model with restricted cubic spline were used to evaluate the potential non-linear associations of post-diagnosis body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with late all-cause mortality and late recurrence. While no significant association was observed for post-diagnosis BMI or WHR with late recurrence; a U-shaped association was observed for the two measures with late all-cause death. Women with BMI of 25.0 kg/m2 or WHR of 0.83 were at the lowest risk of late all-cause mortality, whereas those with BMI beyond the range of 22.1–28.7 kg/m2 or WHR beyond the range of 0.81–0.86 had a higher risk. ER, stage or menopausal status did not modify the effect of post-diagnosis BMI or WHR on the outcomes. In conclusion, post-diagnosis BMI and WHR, as indicators of overall and central obesity respectively, were associated with late all-cause mortality in U-shaped pattern among long-term breast cancer survivors.