original articles

Annals of Oncology

Annals of Oncology 26: 101–112, 2015 doi:10.1093/annonc/mdu509 Published online 30 October 2014

Obesity and the outcome of young breast cancer patients in the UK: the POSH study E. R. Copson1*, R. I. Cutress1, T. Maishman1, B. K. Eccles1, S. Gerty1, L. Stanton1, D. G. Altman2, L. Durcan1, C. Wong1, P. D. Simmonds1, L. Jones3, D. M. Eccles1 & POSH Study Steering Group† 1

Cancer Sciences Academic Unit and University of Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust, Tremona Road, Southampton; 2Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Wolfson College Annexe, Oxford; 3Tumour Biology Department, Institute of Cancer, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Charterhouse Square, London, UK

Received 20 August 2014; revised 19 October 2014; accepted 22 October 2014

Background: Obese breast cancer patients have a poorer prognosis than non-obese patients. We examined data from a large prospective cohort study to explore the associations of obesity with tumour pathology, treatment and outcome in young British breast cancer patients receiving modern oncological treatments. Patients and methods: A total of 2956 patients aged ≤40 at breast cancer diagnosis were recruited from 126 UK hospitals from 2001 to 2007. Height and weight were measured at registration. Tumour pathology and treatment details were collected. Follow-up data were collected at 6, 12 months, and annually. Results: A total of 2843 eligible patients (96.2%) had a body mass index (BMI) recorded: 1526 (53.7%) were under/ healthy-weight (U/H, BMI