Overweight, but not obese, patients found to be less likely to die
FRIDAY, May 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Overweight colorectal cancer (CRC) patients may have better survival than their normal-weight peers, according to research published online May 19 in JAMA Oncology.
Candyce Kroenke, Sc.D., research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., and colleagues examined the medical records of 3,408 patients in California diagnosed with stages I to III CRC between 2006 and 2011. The researchers then compared each patient’s risk of death at the time of diagnosis and then over the following 15 months.
Patients who were either underweight or statistically obese at diagnosis had higher risk of mortality than low-normal weight patients (BMI 18.5 to <23 kg/m²). High-normal weight (BMI 23 to <25 kg/m²), low-overweight (BMI 25 to <28 kg/m²), and high-overweight (BMI 28 to <30 kg/m²) were associated with lower mortality risks (hazard ratios, 0.77 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 0.56 to 1.06], 0.75 [95 percent CI, 0.55 to 1.04], and 0.52 [95 percent CI, 0.35 to 0.77], respectively).
“Our study, which represents the largest cohort of CRC patients with the most comprehensive data regarding patient weight before, at time of, and following diagnosis, supports the notion of the ‘obesity paradox,'” Kroenke said in a Kaiser news release.
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