High body fat lowers chances of breast cancer survival, a new study says.
According to Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, a research scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, breast cancer mortality increases with higher body mass index (BMI) or a high waist -to- hip ratio (WHR). However, they found this occurrence varying with race or ethnicity.
"The majority of studies among primarily non-Latina white populations on obesity before a diagnosis of breast cancer have found that increased weight is associated with poorer survival," Kwan said, while adding, "yet few studies have examined if this association holds true within the major minority groups of African-Americans, Latinas and Asians and whether differences in obesity might explain racial/ethnic differences in survival."
For the study, Kwan and her team looked at 12,025 women with breast cancer. They received BMI information of 11,351 women, including non-Latina whites (6,044), African-Americans (1,886), Asian-Americans (1,451), Latinas (1,864) and others (106). Underweight (47 percent), obesity (43 percent), highest WHR or abdominal fat (30 percent) were found associated with low survival rate compared to others. Apart from these, researchers noticed the occurrence varying with race and ethnicity.
While in non-Latina white women, being underweight and extremely obese during the breast cancer diagnosis was found increasing the mortality risk, among the Asian-American women, large WHR ratios were associated with the poor survival.
"Overall, we found that patients with breast cancer who were underweight, extremely obese or had high levels of abdominal body fat had the worst survival," Kwan said.
Findings of the study have been presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, recently.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among U.S. women. Nearly 226,870 women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and about 39,510 die from breast cancer every year.
