The Effect of Cachexia on Survival in Metastatic Gastric Cancer Patients Treated With Best Supportive Care

Abstract

In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the effect of cachexia on survival in metastatic gastric cancer (GC) patients treated with best supportive care (BSC) using real-life data. From 2015 to 2019, metastatic GC patients who were treated with BSC were included in this study. The study enrolled 53 metastatic GC patients, 36 (67.9%) were male and 17 (32.1%) were female. The median age of the patients was 66 years. The patients were assigned into two groups, according to body mass index (BMI): BMI <18kg/m2 or BMI ≥18 kg/m2 . A total of 18 patients (33.9%) were in the BMI <18kg/m2 group and 35 patients (66.1%) were in the BMI ≥18 kg/m2 group. There was a statistically significant difference between the two BMI groups with a median overall survival (mOS) of 1 month in the BMI <18kg/m2 group and 3 months in the BMI ≥18 kg/m2 group (p<0.001). In the multivariate analyses, age (hazard ratio [HR], 0.97), chronic obstructive pulmonary (HR, 6.53), BMI <18kg/m2 (HR, 2.31), liver metastasis (HR, 3.53), and peritoneum metastasis (HR, 2.31) were associated with OS. In this study, we found that presence of cachexia at the time of diagnosis in metastatic GC patients treated with BSC was associated with shorter survival in comparison to non-cachectic patients. © 2020, Yuzuncu Yil Universitesi Tip Fakultesi. All rights reserved.