The effect of being overweight on survival in endometrioid carcinoma of the endometrium at different ages.

The effect of being overweight on survival in endometrioid carcinoma of the endometrium was examined at different ages in this article. The body mass index [body weight/height(m2)] was evaluated in 287 Japanese women with endometrioid carcinoma. Overweight individuals were defined as those with a body mass index of 24.5 or more. The subjects were divided into two groups, including a younger age group (women less than 50 years of age) and an older age group (women 50 years of age or more). Being overweight was thus analyzed to see if it had any influence on survival. The body mass index ranged from 15 to 40 (mean +/- SD; 23.0 +/- 3.9). Twenty-six (32.1%) of 81 subjects in the younger age group and 78 (37.9%) of 206 subjects in the older age group were found to be overweight. In the younger age group, we could find no effect of being overweight on survival. In the older age group, the cumulative 10-year survival rate was 75.2% in normal weight subjects and 89.4% in overweight subjects (P < 0.02). However, the histologic grade, depth of myometrial invasion, cervical invasion, lymphovascular invasion, ovarian metastases, and lymph node metastases showed no significant difference between normal weight and overweight subjects in both the younger and older age groups. In a multivariate analysis, being overweight was a better independent prognostic factor in older age group. Being overweight may contribute to the heterogenous etiology of endometrioid carcinomas in the older age group.