Obesity and Prognostic Variables in Colombian Breast CancerPatients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction. Obesity is an established risk factor for cancer and cancer-related deaths, including that of the breast. While theprevalence of female obesity has accelerated over the past decade in many developing countries, such as Colombia, the prevalenceof overweight and obesity specifically in breast cancer populations has not been fully described.Methods.Across-sectionalstudyincluding 849 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2009 and 2014. Based on body mass index, prevalence of overweight(BMI≥25<30) and obesity (BMI≥30) and associations of BMI with clinical and tumor histopathological features were analyzed.Results. Colombian breast cancer patients had a prevalence of overweight of 34.28% and obesity of 28.15%. Mean BMI wascomparable between premenopausal and postmenopausal women (27.2 versus 27.7, resp.). Among premenopausal women, higherBMI was significantly positively associated with hormone receptor negative tumors, as well as with greater lymphovascular invasion.Conclusions. Colombian breast cancer patients exhibit a significant prevalence of overweight and obesity. Associations of high BMIand poor prognosis variables in the premenopausal population suggest risk of aggressive disease in this population. Future studiesto further validate our observations are warranted in order to implement multidisciplinary clinical guidelines.