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Association between weight change and breast cancer prognosis

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

Abstract

Purpose

Results of the associations between weight change after breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis were inconsistent. The modification effects of menopausal status and endocrine therapy on the associations remain poorly understood.

Methods

A total of 2016 breast cancer patients were recruited between October 2008 and January 2018 and followed up until December 31, 2019 in Guangzhou. Multivariate Cox models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for progression-free survival (PFS) in association with weight change after diagnosis.

Results

Weight loss at 2 years (HR = 1.34, 95% CI 0.87–2.06) or more than 2 years (HR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.22–3.10) after diagnosis increased risk of breast cancer progression. The adverse effect of weight loss was significantly more pronounced in post-menopausal than pre-menopausal women, particularly for weight loss at 2 years after diagnosis, with the HRs and 95% CIs of 2.41 (1.25–4.63) and 0.90 (0.49–1.64), respectively. Weight gain tended to reduce the risk of disease progression among patients with endocrine therapy but not for those with non-endocrine therapy; the significant interaction between weight gain at 2 years after diagnosis and endocrine therapy was observed (Pinteraction = 0.042).

Conclusion

Our finding suggested that weight loss was detrimental to breast cancer prognosis, particularly for post-menopausal women, while weight gain may be a potential beneficial indicator for the patients with endocrine therapy but not for those with non-endocrine therapy.

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Data availability

Enquiries about data availability should be directed to the authors.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

CI:

Confidence interval

ER:

Estrogen receptor

HER2:

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2

HR:

Hazard ratio

PFS:

Progression-free survival

PR:

Progesterone receptor

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the patients who participated in this study, the staff who conducted the baseline and the follow-up data collection, and the medical staff in the breast departments of the First Affiliated Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital, and the Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University.

Funding

The results reported herein correspond to specific aims of Grants (or other source of support) 81773515 and 81973115 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and 2019B030316002 from the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yi-Xin Zhang and Zhuo-Zhi Liang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan 2nd Rd, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Yi-Xin Zhang, Yun-qian Li & Ze-Fang Ren

  2. School of Basic Medical Science, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Zhuo-Zhi Liang

  3. The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Ying Lin

  4. Breast Tumor Center, Second Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Zhuo-Zhi Liang & Qiang Liu

  5. Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China

    Xiao-Ming Xie

  6. The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 600 Tianhe Rd, Guangzhou, 510630, China

    Lu-Ying Tang

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  1. Yi-Xin Zhang
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Correspondence to Lu-Ying Tang or Ze-Fang Ren.

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The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University.

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Zhang, YX., Liang, ZZ., Li, Yq. et al. Association between weight change and breast cancer prognosis. Breast Cancer Res Treat 193, 677–684 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06592-6

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