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Obesity associated with poorer prognosis in women with early stage breast cancer
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Recurrences and distant recurrences were increased among postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancers who were obese, according to exploratory findings from the Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination study.
In the study, researchers randomly assigned 4,939 women to 1 mg anastrozole, 20 mg tamoxifen or a combination. The median follow-up was 100 months.
Women with a BMI greater than 35 kg/m2 had a higher rate of breast cancer recurrence than women with a BMI less than 23 kg/m2 (HR=1.39; 95% CI, 1.06-1.82). There were 46% more distant recurrences among women with a higher BMI vs. women with a lower BMI (HR=1.46; 95% CI, 1.07-1.61).
Women assigned anastrozole had 27% less recurrence than women assigned tamoxifen (HR=0.73; 95% CI, 0.63-0.83). Recurrence rates were lower in the anastrozole group vs. the tamoxifen group for all BMI levels.
The benefit of anastrozole, however, was greater among women with a lower BMI. For women with a BMI less than 23 kg/m2, the HR was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.45-0.91) for recurrences and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.39-0.89) for distant recurrences. For women with a BMI greater than 35 kg/m2, the HR was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.61-1.14) for recurrences and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.68-1.36) for distant recurrences.
For more information:
- Sestak I. J Clin Oncol. 2010;doi:10.1200/JCO.2009.27.2021.