Lack of any Prognostic Value of Body Mass Index for Patients Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

. No significant differences were observed in patient characteristics between these. We found no difference in 2-year OS and DFS associated with BMI (p=0.763 for OS; p=0.818 for DFS) using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis revealed that higher clinical stage was prognostic for worse 2-year OS and DFS, metastasis for 2-year OS, lymph node status for 2-year DFS, while age, gender, smoking, drinking, tumor location and BMI were not prognostic. There were no differences in the 2-year OS (hazard ratio=1.117; p=0.789) and DFS(hazard ratio=1.161; p=0.708) between BMI groups in multivariate analysis, whereas we found statistical differences in the 2-year OS and DFS associated with clinical stage, gender and tumor infiltration (p<0.04), independent of age, smoking, drinking, tumor location, the status of lymph node metastases and BMI. Conclusions: BMI was not associated with survival in patients with ESCC treated with CRT as primary therapy. BMI should not be considered a prognostic factor for patients undergoing CRT for ESCC.