Fat People more likely to Die after Cancer Surgery
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New research from Texas shows obese patients have higher risk of resurging cancer and fatality after cancer treatment.
New research from the Texas Cancer Center in Houston has shown that fat people are much more likely to die after pancreatic cancer treatments than people with a healthy body size.
The research also showed morbidly obese patients were twelve times more likely to have a cancer spread to other body parts than non-obese people.
The study was conducted by Dr Jason B Fleming who produced his work for the American medical journal Archives of Surgery.
Dr Fleming took a sample of 285 patients who had pancreatic cancer and measured their Body Mass Index (BMI).
BMI is a ratio which measures weight against height to see how healthy a person is. Your BMI can be calculated at this link here. Generally a healthy BMI is regarded as falling between 18.5 and 25. A patient is classed as obese if their BMI exceeds 30.
The study wanted to examine the influence of BMI on a patient’s ability to cope against fighting cancer. The results showed that after treatment, those who were fatter with a higher BMI rating had a much higher chance of their cancer spreading, notably to their lymph nodes.
A subset of the patients who had a BMI of 35 or more had a 12-fold increased chance of their pancreatic cancer spreading and contracting lymph node metastasis. The study also found that fat people had a much greater risk of cancer recurring, with twice as many people in the obese category having a resurgence of cancer after treatment.
The results are pretty emphatic and another stark reminder that a healthy life style, maintaining regular exercise and a well balanced diet is essential to good health care. Shockingly, 75 per cent of the patients who had a BMI of 35 or over had died despite their cancer treatment, compared to 52 per cent who had a BMI of under 35.
The results come just a week after research from a French medical research institution showed that fatter people with a waist size of over 40 inches had a significantly higher chance of reducing their lung capacity and functionality, which could be linked with heart disease.
Please give a link to the research study.
You have to sign up to the journal for the full study but you can see an extract here:
http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/144/3/216
I have linked this extract and the journal itself to the story now also.