Br J Cancer: Body Mass Index (BMI) and Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC): Predictors of disease-free survival for breast cancer patients

In recent decades, the global prevalence of breast cancer has been increasing year by year.
As one of the most common malignant tumors in women, there were more than 2,000 deaths in South Korea in 2016.

Because breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multiple biological characteristics, factors such as hormone receptors, HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2), disease stage, and Ki-67 marker index (LI) will all affect Affect the prognosis of patients.

Obesity is another major health problem of global concern.

The study aims to assess the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) in breast cancer patients and healthy women, and to determine the prognostic value of these factors in breast cancer.

In this study, the researchers analyzed 1225 primary invasive breast cancer patients and 35,991 healthy female participants, and used a multivariate Cox risk ratio model to evaluate the relationship between the BMI index and disease-free survival (DFS) of the patients.

Compare ALC box plots based on BMI

The results showed that there was a positive correlation between BMI and ALC in breast cancer patients and healthy women.

After risk stratification based on BMI/ALC data, the researchers found that high-risk patients with high BMI/low ALC had worse DFS compared to other patients.

Kaplan-Meier Survival Curve Analysis

All in all, the results of the study showed that participants' BMI index and ALC were positively correlated, but the prognosis of breast cancer patients was opposite.