The evolution of body composition in oncology-epidemiology, clinical trials, and the future of patient care: facts and numbers.

ABSTRACT: There is growing interest from the oncology community to understand how body composition measures can be used to improve the delivery of clinical care for the 18.1 million individuals diagnosed with cancer annually. Methods that distinguish muscle from subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue, such as computed tomography (CT), may offer new insights of important risk factors and improved prognostication of outcomes over alternative measures such as body mass index. In a meta-analysis of 38 studies, low muscle area assessed from clinically acquired CT was observed in 27.7% of patients with cancer and associated with poorer overall survival [hazard ratio: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.32-1.56]. Therapeutic interventions such as lifestyle and pharmacotherapy that modify all aspects of body composition and

SUBMITTER: Brown JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6351674 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature