Breast Cancer More Aggressive In Overweight And Obese Women
Women who are overweight or obese experience more aggressive breast cancer and lower survival rates than normal weight women.
According to a recent study by researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, breast cancer is more aggressive for obese women because fat tissue increases inflammation.
Their findings suggest that the more overweight or obese a woman is, the more aggressive the breast cancer.
The researchers studied 606 women.
About 82%, or 495 of the women, had locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). LABC is breast cancer that’s spread to lymph nodes or nearby tissue.
The remaining 18%, or 111 women, had non-metastatic inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).
Survival rates were analyzed with and without respect to the women’s body mass index (BMI).
Here’s what the scientists found:
• For all the women (regardless of BMI), the median overall survival was 8.6 years and recurrence-free survival was 5.8 years…
• For obese LABC women (with BMIs greater than 30), 5-year survival was 58.6% and 10-year survival was 42.4%…
• For overweight LABC patients (with BMIs between 25 and 30), 5-year survival was 58.3% and 10-year survival was 44.1%…
• For normal or underweight LABC women, survival rates were 69.3% for 5 years and 57.3% for 10 years…
• For obese IBC women, 5-year survival was 49.3% and 10-year survival was 43.7%…
• For overweight IBC women, survival was 45.3% for 5 years and 29.1% for 10 years…
• For normal or underweight IBC patients, 5-year survival was 55.1% and 10-year survival was 50.9%…
To me, one of the results doesn’t make sense.
Why do the obese women with IBC live longer (49.3% for 5 years and 43.7% for 10 years) than the overweight women with IBC (45.3% and 29.1%, respectively)?
These statistics suggest to me that if you’re not normal weight, then your chances of survival with IBC are better if you’re obese instead of overweight.
Especially at the 10-year mark.
So more research must be done to confirm the association between BMI and cancer outcome.
The researchers also believe there should be more research to evaluate the link between obesity and hormones. They specifically want to study insulin, leptin, and estrogen levels.
Nevertheless, these scientists believe that oncologists should monitor breast cancer patients more closely if they are overweight or obese.
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