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Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Retzius-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Published on: May 19, 2022
Body mass index does not improve the ability to predict biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy
Felix K H Chun1, Alberto Briganti, Markus Graefen
1Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Centre (CHUM), 1058, rue St-Denis, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3J4, Canada.
Purpose:
To test whether body mass index (BMI) improves pre- or post-operative biochemical recurrence (BCR) predictions after radical prostatectomy.
Materials And Methods:
Pre- and post-operative data were available in 2416 and 2499 men, respectively. Cox regression models addressed the association between BMI and the rate of BCR after adjusting for pre- and post-operative predictors. Predictive accuracy was quantified using Harrell's concordance index, with and without BMI and subjected to 200 bootstraps to reduce overfit bias. Differences in predictive accuracy were compared using the Mantel-Haenszel test.
Results:
After adjusting for either pre- or post-operative variables, increasing BMI was a statistically independent risk factor of BCR in both models (both p0.003). Its addition to pre- and post-operative variables respectively increased predictive accuracy measures from 69.6 to 70.2% (+0.6%, p=0.7) and from 78.1 to 78.4% (+0.3%, p=0.8).
Conclusion:
Our data emphasise that despite its significance, inclusion of BMI into models, to predict BCR, does not improve their accuracy.