Pretreatment body mass index and head and neck cancer outcome: A review of the literature

• Higher BMI appears to be associated with increased survival rates in head neck cancer.
• Patients with high BMI also had less recurrence and lower distant metastasis rates.
• Body mass index seems to be an important factor in head neck cancer outcome.

BackgroundThe prevalence of overweight and obesity defined as BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 is increasing, also among head and neck cancer patients. It is unknown whether the presence of high BMI influences disease-related mortality, overall survival and recurrence in these patients.MethodsWe reviewed available literature using Pubmed and Web of Science. Human observational studies were included if they reported the impact of high BMI on mortality, recurrence or survival for head and neck cancer.ResultsEleven full articles and two abstracts met the inclusion criteria: six prospective and seven retrospective cohort studies, which comprised 8.306 patients. Patients with higher BMI had increased overall survival and decreased disease-related mortality and recurrence rate compared with underweight and normal weight patients. Most studies were adjusted for potentially confounding variables, such as stage of disease and smoking habits.ConclusionHigh BMI is associated with a better outcome in head and neck cancer.