Effect of being overweight on postoperative morbidity and long-term surgical outcomes in proximal gastric carcinoma

The prevalence of being overweight has risen remarkably in Korea. This study sought to clarify the relationship between being overweight and surgical outcomes in gastric cancer patients. A total of 410 patients who underwent curative total gastrectomies with D2 dissection from January 2000 to December 2003 were retrospectively studied from a prospectively designed database. The patients were assigned to two groups based upon their body mass index (BMI): non-overweight, BMI < 25 kg/m(2); overweight, BMI >= 25 kg/m(2). Perioperative surgical outcomes, postoperative morbidity, mortality, recurrence, and prognosis were analyzed. The overweight group had longer operation time and more postoperative complications than the non-overweight group. The two groups were similar in terms of transfusion volumes, postoperative bowel movement, time to initiation of a soft diet, and postoperative hospital stay. Patterns of recurrence and cumulative survival rates were similar for each group. Multivariate analysis showed that being overweight was not a risk factor for recurrence or poor prognosis. Although being overweight was associated with increased operation time and higher risk of complications in gastric cancer patients undergoing curative total gastrectomy, it had no effect on recurrence or long-term survival.