Prognostic impact of body mass index and effect of overweight and obesity on surgical and adjuvant treatment in early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer

The present study was performed to find out if the body mass index (BMI) was associated with clinical and pathologic features (age, histology, tumor grade, and substages) and prognosis in early stages (FIGO I-II) of epithelial ovarian cancer. Further aims of the study were to evaluate if overweight or obesity affected the feasibility of optimal surgery and postoperative adjuvant therapy. A total of 635 patients were included in this study. Four percent of the patients were underweight (BMI < 18.5), 53% were of ideal body weight (BMI 18.5-25), 31% were overweight (BMI 25-30), and 12% were obese (BMI > 30). Overweight and obese patients were significantly (P = 0.006) older than underweight and ideal body weight patients. Tumor grade and histologic type distributions were not different across the BMI strata. FIGO stage (P = 0.011) and presence of ascites (P = 0.007) at primary surgery were associated with the BMI status. A history of cardiovascular disease was significantly (P = 0.006) more common in overweight and obese patients. Survival analyses in the four BMI subgroups did not show any significant differences with regard to recurrence-free survival. The 5-year recurrence-free survival of the complete series was 72%. Overweight and obese patients did not have worse survival than normal weight and underweight patients. Perioperative or postoperative morbidity and adjuvant oncologic treatment were not affected by the BMI. In a multivariate Cox analysis, FIGO substage and tumor grade, but not BMI, were independent and significant prognostic factors with regard to all types of survival rates.