Background:
The increasing prevalence of obesity may be a contributing factor for the rising incidence of RCC over the past several decades. According to Eurostat (2008) data 1.9% of the Latvian population was underweight, 43.2% – of normal weight, 38% - overweight and 16,9% - obese.
Aim:To assess the association between BMI, histological pattern and survival of RCC.
Methods:
This was a Riga East University Hospital-based retrospective study from 2009 to 2010 about 305 patients with histologically confirmed renal carcinoma.
Results:
All study patients were stratified into 4 groups according to their BMI: underweight (BMI <18.5), normal weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI = 25-29.9) and obese (BMI >30). Only 1 patient was underweight (0.3%), 69 were of normal weight (22.6%), 114 - overweight (37.4%) and 121 - obese (39.7%). According to one-way ANOVA test there were no statistically significant differences (p>0.05) between BMI, stage of the disease and its histological type. Statistically significant difference was observed in cancer specific survival trends by Kaplan–Meier method between patients with normal and elevated BMI (p=0.028). The difference in the survival curves between overweight and obese patients was not statistically significant (p=0.369).
Conclusions:
The proportion of overweight and obese persons among the RCC patients is higher than in general population. The stage of the disease and its histological type does not depend on BMI whereas survival curves were significantly better for those with BMI exceeding normal.