Abstract 2510
Background
Body Mass Index (BMI) has been documented as a prognostically relevant factor in several cancer types including lung cancer, but has not been investigated in brain metastases (BM). We investigated prognostic relevance of BMI in a large institutional cohort of patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer BM.
Methods
Patients with newly diagnosed BM from lung cancer treated at the Medical University of Vienna between 1990 and 2013 were identified from a BM database. BMI at diagnosis of BM was calculated by the formula body weight in kilogram/body height in m2 and defined as underweight (BMI
Results
624 patients (male 401/624 (64.3%); female 223/624 (35.7%); median age of 61 (range 33-88) were available for further analysis. Lung cancer subtype was non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 17/622 (66.8%), small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in 205/624 (32.9%) and unknown in 2/624 (0.3%) patients. 313/624 (50.2%) patients had normal BMI, 272/624 (43.5%) patients were overweight and 39/624 (6.3%) patients were underweight. Underweight patients had significantly shorter median overall survival times (3 months) compared to patients with normal BMI (7 months) and overweight patients (8 months; p
Conclusions
Underweight is infrequent at diagnosis of BM in lung cancer patients, but strongly and independently associates with an unfavourable prognosis. Our data highlight the importance of addressing cachexia in the palliative treatment of patients with lung cancer BM. Specific interventions may help to improve patient outcomes.
Clinical trial identification
Legal entity responsible for the study
Medical University of Vienna
Funding
Medical University of Vienna
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.