Meatal obstruction following canal wall down mastoidectomy.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate for the first time in Spain if the association between obesity and breast cancer prognosis is similar to that reported in other countries with non Mediterranean dietary patterns.

METHODS

Weight and height and other variables of interest, tumor characteristics and current clinical status 3 yr after diagnosis were retrieved from medical files of breast cancer women diagnosed during 2006. A total of 159 cases with complete information were studied and categorized according to the World Health Organization criteria in normal-/under-weight, overweight, and obese.

RESULTS

Among breast cancer patients, 70.4% were classified as overweight/ obese and 29.6% as normal weight. Prevalence of obesity was high (38.4%) in comparison with information reported for healthy women of the same region (27.11%) and was higher among post-menopausal patients and in women with low level of alcohol and tobacco consumption. Moreover, overweight/ obese cases (79.5%) tended to have more often human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status negative when compared with those with normal weight (70.2%; p=0.097) and the survival curves tended to be influenced by body mass index although without statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

Overweight/obesity in a Mediterranean country is highly prevalent among breast cancer patients. Our results support a putative influence of obesity per se and not the alimentary patterns as a prognostic factor in breast cancer patients justifying the need to perform larger prospective studies.