Does body mass index influence surgical options and overall survival in breast cancer patients?

Obesity is a relevant risk factor in breast cancer (BC), but little is known about the effects of overweight and obesity in surgical outcomes of BC patients. The aim of this study is to analyse surgical options and associated overall survival (OS) in overweight and obese women with BC. In this study, 2143 women diagnosed between 2012 and 2016 at the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO-Porto) were included, and the clinicopathological information was retrieved from the institutional database. Patients were stratified by body mass index (BMI). Statistical analysis included Pearson's chi-squared test with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Multinomial, binary logistic regression and cox proportional-hazards model were also performed to calculate odd ratios and hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for adjusted and non-adjusted models. The results revealed no statistical difference in histological type, topographic localization, tumour stage and receptor status and in the number of surgical interventions. Overweight women have increased probability to be subjected to sentinel node biopsy. Obese and overweight women are more likely to be submitted to conservative surgery and contrariwise, less likely to undergo total mastectomy. Patients submitted to conservative surgery and not submitted to total mastectomy had a favourable OS although without statistical significance. No significant differences were observed in OS when stratified by BMI. Our results revealed significant variations regarding the surgical options in overweight and obese patients, but these were not translated in OS difference. More research is recommended to better address treatment options in overweight and obese BC patients.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the effects of overweight and obesity on surgical outcomes in breast cancer patients. The results showed that overweight and obese women were more likely to undergo conservative surgery and less likely to undergo total mastectomy. However, surgical options did not significantly affect overall survival.