Correlation between the body mass index of patients with breast cancer before and after chemotherapy

The objective of this work was to show how the influence of the microenvironment in tumor cells and consequently the onset and tumor progression is becoming increasingly more evident. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the developed world, surpassed only by heart disease and obesity, and is increasingly recognised as an oncogenic factor in the genesis of this tumor. Inflammatory mediators related to obesity are suspected to play a role in oncogenic modification of substrates metabolism of nutrients, most patients diagnosed with breast cancer underwent chemotherapy treatment, and this may be an aggravating factor of obesity. The authors selected 49 patients with previous diagnosis of breast cancer who had undergone chemotherapy and evaluated data regarding body mass index (BMI) before and after chemotherapy. They observed that there was statistical difference of BMI of patients before and after chemotherapy with p = 0.03. Comparing the groups, a statistical difference was found between overweight and obesity grade II and overweight and obesity grade III. Patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer usually showed on average a BMI 27.84, worsening after chemotherapy to 28.64. These findings can help to accelerate the division and cell reproduction, because obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer, and weight gain seems to be a major factor after treatment and may influence the prognosis of these women.

Breast cancer; Body mass index; Chemotherapy; Body weight.

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