The relationship between obesity and cancer has been widely studied, but the impact of metabolic health on the outcomes of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in obese individuals is not well understood. “Association of Obesity Under Different Metabolic Status With Adverse Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Retrospective Cohort Study,” recently published in the Journal of Diabetes, aimed to fill this gap by examining the association between abnormal metabolic obesity states and the outcomes of CML.
The study utilized data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database and included 7931 adult patients with CML discharged between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2018. The study population was divided into 4 groups based on body mass index and metabolic status. The primary outcome was adverse outcomes of CML, including nonremission (NR)/relapse and severe mortality risk. The data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis.
The study found that “metabolically unhealthy normal weight and metabolically unhealthy obesity were all risk factors for adverse outcomes of CML compared with metabolically healthy normal weight.”
The results showed no significant difference in the metabolically healthy obese group. Researchers found that metabolically unhealthy normal weight and metabolically unhealthy obesity were both associated with increased risk of NR or relapse in female patients by 1.23-fold and 1.40-fold, respectively. However, male patients did not show such a risk. Furthermore, patients with a higher number of metabolic risk factors or those with dyslipidemia were more likely to experience adverse outcomes regardless of their obesity status.
These findings highlight the importance of considering metabolic health in the management of CML. The study suggests that metabolic abnormalities, rather than obesity alone, are associated with adverse outcomes in patients with CML.
“Future treatment of patients with CML should consider the effects of obesity on their adverse outcomes under different metabolic status, especially in female patients,” the researchers concluded.
Source: Journal of Diabetes
