Survivors of Standard Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Do Not Have Increased Risk for Overweight and Obesity Compared to Non-cancer Peers: A Report From the Children's Oncology Group

BackgroundWe sought to determine whether survivors of standard risk ALL (SR-ALL) treated without cranial radiation have increased risk for obesity by assessing changes in body mass index (BMI) during and after treatment; identifying contributing patient and treatment factors; comparing rates of overweight/obese to national health data. ProcedureEligibility for this retrospective cohort study included: (i) previous enrollment on legacy therapy trials CCG1922 or CCG1952; (ii) continuous first remission; and (iii) age at follow-up evaluation of 6-16.99 years. Height and weight from diagnosis, consolidation, start of maintenance, last cycle of maintenance, and off-therapy were analyzed. ResultsThe 269 subjects were a median age of 3.5 years at diagnosis and 13.3 years at follow-up. BMI% significantly increased from induction to consolidation (+17.61.6%), start of maintenance to end-of-treatment (+3.3 +/- 1.6%) and decreased from end-of-treatment to follow-up (-3.5 +/- 1.6%,). Higher BMI% at follow-up was associated with higher BMI% at diagnosis (P<0.0001), but not age at diagnosis, gender, or race. Patients previously randomized to dexamethasone had a stronger association between BMI% at diagnosis and BMI% at follow-up than those who received prednisone (P=0.0005). At follow-up, 39% of survivors were overweight or obese; the relative risk of overweight/obese was 1.028 (P=0.738) compared to the general population. ConclusionsOur study of patients with SR-ALL found a significant increase in BMI% largely during the first month of therapy that is greater with dexamethasone than prednisone. However, after therapy, there was no increased risk of overweight/obese BMI compared to non-cancer peers. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:1035-1041. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.