Weight gain after adjuvant treatment in breast cancer patients in Istanbul, Turkey
e11620 Background: Weight gain is a common and unwanted result of chemotherapy. We wanted to find out how much weight Turkish beast cancer patients gains after chemotherapy and whether it lasts afterwards. Methods: 183 breast cancer patients who underwent a curative resection and received adjuvant chemotherapy afterwards in a private clinic between 1998 and 2007 are studied. Their weight before and after chemotherapy as well as their weight more than a year after chemotherapy is recorded together with their educational level, menopausal status, the type of chemotherapy or hormonal treatment, stage of disease, marital status, occupation and the underlying diseases. Results: Median age of patients is 53 and 72% is in menopause. Educational level is equally distributed for primary education (26%), High school (30%) and University and above (32%). Majority is (76%) married with two children (43%) and house wife (50%). Family history of any cancer is high (33%). Most of the patients had stage II cancer (57%), received anthracycline± taxane based chemotherapy (97%) and has no underlying disease (67%). The majority also does not smoke (72%) or drink alcohol (93%). Mean weight before the chemotherapy was 69.1 and increased to 70.8 upon completion of chemotherapy (p= 0.000) and 72 kg. more than a year after completion of chemotherapy (p=0.000). The other parameters including hormonal treatment, menopause, educational level and smoking do not have any effect on this weight increase. The all groups had similar weight gain with chemotherapy. Conclusions: Although upon starting the study we expected more, we confirmed some amount of weight gain with chemotherapy in Turkish patients and that gain is seen all across various social groups. The doctors should inform their patients of this change and precaution them toward this unwanted consequence. No significant financial relationships to disclose.