Excess body weight and increased Breslow thickness in melanoma patients

Abstract

Excess body weight has been shown to increase the risk for development of several common cancers, such as postmenopausal breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, and esophagus cancers. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the potential relationship between excess body weight, assessed in terms of BMI, and Breslow thickness in 605 patients affected by primary cutaneous melanoma. Particularly, we evaluated the occurrence of thick melanoma (>1 mm) in overweight compared with nonoverweight patients. The effect of BMI (≥25 vs. <25 kg/m2) on the risk of having a diagnosis of thick melanoma was estimated in terms of odds ratio (OR) by logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, and histological type. Significant differences in overweight versus nonoverweight patients were found with respect to sex distribution. In fact, the occurrence of thick melanoma was greater in overweight women than in nonoverweight women (OR=1.64). When the analysis was restricted to postmenopausal women, the corresponding OR increased further to 2.50. In conclusion, a positive association between excess body weight and the risk of thick melanoma was found only in female patients. On stratifying patients into subgroups, the relationship between the risk of being diagnosed with a thick melanoma (>1.0 mm) and overweight status (BMI≥25 kg/m2) was significantly affected by both sex and menopausal status. Despite limitations because of both the study design and the relatively small numbers of patients in certain subgroups, overweight status may be associated with an increased Breslow thickness in postmenopausal women.

Anthropometric factors and Breslow thickness: prospective data on 2570 cases of cutaneous melanoma in the population-based Janus Cohort

“…When replicated on our data, we found no statistically significant result, but we were unable to conduct analyses stratified by menopausal status owing to few postmenopausal participants at baseline . The difference between our results and those of de Giorgi et al ., Gandini et al . and Skowron et al .…”

“…de Giorgi et al . examined Breslow thickness as a dichotomous outcome according to BMI, and found a statistically significant increased risk of thick CMs > 1 mm in overweight and postmenopausal women . When replicated on our data, we found no statistically significant result, but we were unable to conduct analyses stratified by menopausal status owing to few postmenopausal participants at baseline .…”

“…11 However, limited data exist on anthropometric factors in relation to Breslow thickness. To our knowledge, only three studies have addressed this: de Giorgi et al found that overweight and postmenopausal women had increased risk of Breslow thickness > 1 mm; 12 Gandini et al found a higher median Breslow thickness among patients with CM with a BMI ≥ 25 kg m À2 than in those with a BMI < 25 kg m À2 ; 13 and Skowron et al found a positive association between BMI and Breslow thickness. 14 However, these studies collected data on height and weight postdiagnostically, did not report associations stratified by anatomical site or histological subtype, and did not model Breslow thickness as a continuous outcome.…”

“…To our knowledge, only three studies have addressed this: de Giorgi et al . found that overweight and postmenopausal women had increased risk of Breslow thickness > 1 mm; Gandini et al . found a higher median Breslow thickness among patients with CM with a BMI ≥ 25 kg m −2 than in those with a BMI < 25 kg m −2 ; and Skowron et al .…”

Adipocyte extracellular vesicles carry enzymes and fatty acids that stimulate mitochondrial metabolism and remodeling in tumor cells

“…Indeed, although controverted at first (Sergentanis et al, 2013), now, most epidemiological studies indicate that obesity increases the risk of developing melanoma, at least in men (Renehan et al, 2008;Dobbins et al, 2013). On the other hand, the association between obesity and melanoma aggressiveness has been demonstrated in epidemiological studies in both men and women (de Giorgi et al, 2013;Skowron et al, 2015;Stenehjem et al, 2018) and in murine models (Pandey et al, 2012;Jung et al, 2015;Malvi et al, 2016). Indeed, adjustment for sunlight exposure (Shors et al, 2001;Gallus et al, 2006) or use of hormone replacement therapy and menopausal status (Reeves et al, 2007) reveal positive associations between melanoma risk and obesity in women.…”