[Obesity and risk of relapse in patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A retrospective study]

Obesity has been associated with a low-grade proinflammatory state, and it has been related to the development of cancer in general, including hematologic cancer.

The present work aimed to identify the association of the diagnosis of obesity according to the body mass index (BMI) with prognostic factors of adult patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

This observational, retrospective study included hospitalized patients diagnosed with ALL of the B-cell lineages. BMI was estimated based on the weight and height registered on clinical records at the admission of the patients. The relapse risk and bone marrow relapse were determined, and the survival rate was measured. The statistical analysis included the Kaplan-Meier method using the log-Rank test.

This study included 128 clinical records of patients. Weight had no significant association with relapse risk. The frequency of bone marrow relapse was 43.8%. Obesity did not impact overall survival (p = 0.640) or disease-free survival (p = 0.527). The presence of obesity does not behave as a relapse risk variable (p = 0.873). BMI with a 30 kg/m2 cut-off point did not influence relapse risk (OR 1.078).

Obesity is not an independent risk factor for the prognosis of adult patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia B-lineage.