Relationship between body mass index and outcomes for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Objective: The purpose of our study was to investigate body mass index (BMI) as a prognostic factor and to examine the relationship between pretreatment BMI and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) outcomes in northern Chinese patients.

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 633 patients with OSCC who underwent surgery between 2004 and 2014.

Results: Most baseline characteristics (gender, sites, smoking history, comorbidity, hypertension, T stage, clinical features, perineural invasion, flap reconstruction) were differentiated by BMI groups. Overall, the Kaplan-Meier curves indicated no significant relationship between BMI and disease-free survival (DFS) or disease-specific survival (DSS). Interestingly, obese patients exhibited higher risks of recurrence and death than normal-weight patients (DFS: HR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.16-2.96; DSS: HR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.08-3.86). However, postoperative complications occurred more frequently in underweight patients than in normal-weight patients.

Conclusions: Obesity may contribute to a higher recurrence rate and a worse prognosis in OSCC patients than in normal-weight patients in northern China. However, underweight patients have a higher risk of postoperative complications.