https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9960-5629
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Abstract
Limited information is available regarding the impact of body weight loss (BWL) in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) who receive second-line chemotherapy. We retrospectively reviewed data for consecutive AGC patients who received second-line treatment with taxane-based chemotherapy at our institution between January 2014 and September 2018. We calculated variables, including percent BWL per month during chemotherapy (%BWL/m), and analyzed the correlations between BWL and other clinicopathological parameters with survival. Forty-four AGC patients were registered (median age, 67.5 years; females, n = 16 [36.3%]; severe ascites, n = 12 [27.3%]). The median overall survival was significantly shorter among patients with a %BWL/m of 1% or more, compared with patients with less weight loss (6.3 mo, vs. 12.3 mo, P = 0.038). The %BWL/m (≥1% vs. <1%) was significantly correlated with survival in a univariate analysis (HR = 2.11, P = 0.04), and the survival period was shorter for patients with severe ascites (HR = 1.92; 95% CI, 0.90–3.90) and if their %BWL/m was 1% or more (HR = 2.01; 95% CI, 0.98–4.10) in a multivariate analysis. In conclusion, BWL during second-line chemotherapy was associated with a poor prognosis among patients with AGC.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Mr. Masaki Takahashi, Ms. Yuko Tanno, and Ms. Naho Kobayashi for their statistical or technical assistance.
Disclosure Statement
Dr. Mizukami reports grants and personal fees from Eli Lilly Japan, personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb Japan, outside the submitted work; Dr. Sunakawa reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb Japan, personal fees from Lilly Japan, outside the submitted work; Dr. Nakajima reports grants and personal fees from Eli Lilly Japan K.K., grants and personal fees from Nippon Kayaku Co., personal fees from Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, personal fees from Nipro Co, outside the submitted work; the other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Funding
This study has not received any funding.
Ethics Approval
This study is conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki and Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects and has been approved by the Institutional Review Boards of each participating institute and the Research Ethics Committee of St. Marianna University School of Medicine (approved at 8/Oct/2019, #4528). As this was a retrospective study, the research plan was posted in our hospital in accordance with the guaranteed opt-out opportunity.
Consent for Publication
Not applicable
Author Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Takuro Mizukami and Ayako Yokomizo. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Takuro Mizukami and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.