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. 2018 Sep;18(3):274-286.
doi: 10.5230/jgc.2018.18.e30. Epub 2018 Sep 14.

The Impact of Preoperative Low Body Mass Index on Postoperative Complications and Long-term Survival Outcomes in Gastric Cancer Patients

Chang Hyun Kim  1 , Seung-Man Park  1 , Jin-Jo Kim  1
Affiliations

The Impact of Preoperative Low Body Mass Index on Postoperative Complications and Long-term Survival Outcomes in Gastric Cancer Patients

Chang Hyun Kim et al. J Gastric Cancer. 2018 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of preoperative low body mass index (BMI) on both the short- and long-term outcomes in patients with gastric cancer.

Materials and methods: A total of 510 patients with gastric cancer were divided into the following 3 groups: low BMI group (≤18.5 kg/m2, n=51), normal BMI group (18.6-24.9 kg/m2, n=308), and high BMI group (≥25.0 kg/m2, n=151).

Results: There were significantly more stage III/IV patients in the low BMI group than in the other groups (P=0.001). Severe postoperative complications were more frequent (P=0.010) and the survival was worse (P<0.001) in the low BMI group. The subgroup analysis indicated that survival was worse in the low BMI group of the stage I/II subgroup (P=0.008). The severe postoperative complication rate was higher in the low BMI group of the stage III/IV subgroup (P=0.001), although the recurrence rate and survival did not differ in the stage III/IV subgroup among all the BMI groups. Low BMI was an independent poor prognostic factor in the stage I/II subgroup (disease-free survival: hazard ratio [HR], 13.521; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.186-154.197; P=0.036 and overall survival: HR, 5.130; 95% CI, 1.644-16.010; P=0.005), whereas low BMI was an independent risk factor for severe postoperative complications in the stage III/IV subgroup (HR, 17.158; 95% CI, 1.383-212.940; P=0.027).

Conclusions: Preoperative low BMI in patients with gastric cancer adversely affects survival among those with stage I/II disease and increases the severe postoperative complication rate among those with stage III/IV disease.

Keywords: Body mass index; Obesity; Stomach neoplasms; Underweight.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Kaplan-Meier DFS curves for gastric cancer patients, stratified by the BMI groups. (A) DFS in all patients, (B) DFS in stage I and II patients, and (C) DFS in stage III patients.
DFS = disease-free survival; BMI = body mass index.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Kaplan-Meier OS curves for gastric cancer patients, stratified by the BMI groups. (A) OS in all patients, (B) OS in stage I and II patients, and (C) OS in stage III and IV patients.
OS = overall survival; BMI = body mass index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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