Impact of underweight after treatment on prognosis of advanced-stage ovarian cancer

This study aimed to investigate the impact of underweight status on the prognosis of advanced-stage ovarian cancer. a total of 360 patients with stage iii-iv epithelial ovarian cancer were enrolled and divided into three groups by body mass indexes (bmis): underweight (bmi < 18.5 kg/m2); normal weight to overweight (18.5 kg/m2 bmi < 27.5 kg/m2); obesity (bmi ≥ 27.5 kg/m2). progression-free survival (pfs),overall survival (os),ca-125,and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (nlr) as a marker reflecting host inflammation and immunity were compared among the three groups according to the three treatment times: at diagnosis; after surgery; and after treatment. only underweight status after treatment was associated with poor os in comparison with normal weight to overweight or obesity (mean value,44.9 versus 78.8 or 67.4 months; p = 0.05); it was also an unfavorable factor for os (adjusted hr,2.29; 95% ci,1.08-4.85). furthermore,nlr was higher in patients with underweight than in those with obesity after treatment (median value,2.15 versus 1.47; p = 0.03),in spite of no difference in ca-125 among the three groups at the three treatment times. in conclusion,underweight status after treatment may be a poor prognostic factor in patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer,which accompanies increased host inflammation and decreased immunity. © 2014 se ik kim et al.