@article{ABS9842,
author = {Juliana Goulart Xande and Luiz Vinicius de Alcantara Sousa and Nathalia Aguiar Silva Jesus and Marcela Ferraz Brenna and Jean Henri Maselli-Schoueri and Auro del Giglio},
title = {Weight loss during treatment is associated with reduced disease-free survival in non-metastatic breast cancer},
journal = {Annals of Breast Surgery},
volume = {10},
number = {0},
year = {2026},
keywords = {},
abstract = {Background: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. To evaluate the interplay between weight variation during oncological treatment and systemic inflammatory markers, determining their combined prognostic impact on clinical outcomes in a real-world cohort of women with non-metastatic breast cancer. The primary objective was to determine whether percentage weight variation during treatment is associated with disease-free survival (DFS) in non-metastatic breast cancer.Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 184 female patients treated for breast cancer at a public hospital in Brazil between January 2020 and December 2024. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements (percentage weight variation from baseline to last follow-up), and pretreatment hematological inflammatory indices—specifically neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC)—were collected. Due to limited data availability, analyses involving inflammatory markers were considered exploratory. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess associations with DFS and overall survival (OS), stratified by clinical stage.Results: The cohort had a mean age of 56.3±12.2 years; 83.7% had excess body weight (38.2% overweight, 45.5% obese). Luminal B was the most prevalent molecular subtype (46.4%); and 91.8% had non-metastatic disease (stages I–III). In patients with stages I–III, percentage weight variation was associated with DFS in multivariable analysis (hazard ratio 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.92–0.98; P=0.002), with weight loss linked to higher recurrence risk compared to those with stable weight or weight gain. No statistically significant associations were observed for OS. While weak univariate correlations existed between specific inflammatory markers and weight balance, NLR and PLR were not associated with DFS in the analyses performed.Conclusions: Maintaining body weight during systemic therapy is associated with improved DFS in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer in this cohort. Routine monitoring of anthropometric dynamics should be an integral component of supportive oncological care.},
issn = {2616-2776}, url = {https://abs.amegroups.org/article/view/9842}
}