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Pre-diagnostic changes in body mass index and mortality among breast cancer patients

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

We investigated whether changes in body mass index (BMI) before a breast cancer diagnosis affected mortality and whether trajectories more accurately predict overall mortality compared to a single measure of BMI.

Methods

Our prospective cohort comprised 2012 women with breast cancer who reported their weight in each decade from 20 to 50–64 years of age. We used trajectory analysis to identify groups with similar development patterns in BMI and Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association between trajectory groups and mortality, and interactions with oestrogen receptor status and smoking. We used c-index statistics to compare the trajectory model with the single measure model of BMI.

Results

We identified three distinct trajectory groups, with a mean BMI at age 20 of 19, 22 and 24 increasing to 23 (normal-to-normal), 29 (normal-to-overweight) and 37 (normal-to-obese) at 50–64 years of age, respectively. Women in the normal-to-obese trajectory group experienced significantly higher overall mortality than those in the normal-to-normal trajectory group (HR 1.76, 95% CI 1.21‒2.56). The association declined to a non-significant level after adjustments for clinical prognostic factors. Although not significant, the same tendency was seen for breast cancer-specific mortality. The association was strongest in women with oestrogen receptor-negative tumours. Weight changes over time were not significantly different from a single BMI measure before diagnosis to predict survival.

Conclusion

Weight gain affects overall mortality after breast cancer but clinical prognostic factors largely eliminate the association. Using trajectories of weight changes did not improve the predictive value compared to a single measure of BMI.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

HR:

Hazard ratio

BIC:

Bayesian information criterion

IQR:

Interquartile range

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The Health Foundation (Helsefonden j.nr.2007B121) and the Nordic Cancer Union (Reference S-11/07). We would like to thank Katja Boll for her exceptional work on data management in the Diet, Cancer and Health study.

Funding

The funding source had no role in study design; the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Correspondence to Signe Benzon Larsen.

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Larsen, S.B., Torstensson, M., Kenborg, L. et al. Pre-diagnostic changes in body mass index and mortality among breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat 170, 605–612 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-4771-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-4771-5

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