Effect of initial body mass index on survival outcome of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome: a single-center retrospective study.

Multiple studies have associated elevated body mass index (BMI) and increased incidence of hematologic malignancies, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between BMI at diagnosis and overall survival (OS) in a retrospective cohort of 92 patients with MDS. The median age at diagnosis was 63 (14-84) years. The median BMI was 22.75 (15.94-34.26) kg/m2. Eleven (12.0%) patients were underweight, 64 (69.6%) were normal weight, 17 (18.5%) were overweight or obese. Three-year OS rates differed significantly when the three BMI groups were compared (p = .0449). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that normal weight (versus underweight) had a marginally significant effect on OS (hazard ratio = 0.456, p = .127), and overweight/obese (versus underweight) had a significant effect on OS (hazard ratio = 0.171, p = .015). Further investigations are required to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for this association.