The effect of cachexia on survival in metastatic gastric cancer patients treated with best supportive care

INTRODUCTION: In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the effect of cachexia on survival in metastatic gastric cancer (GC) patients treated with best supportive care (BSC) using real-life data.
METHODS: From 2015 to 2019, metastatic GC patients who were treated with BSC were included in this study. The study enrolled 53 metastatic GC patients, 36 (67.9%) were male and 17 (32.1%) were female. The median age of the patients was 66 years. The patients were assigned into two groups, according to body mass index (BMI): BMI <18kg/m2 or BMI ≥18 kg/m2. A total of 18 patients (33.9%) were in the BMI <18kg/m2 group and 35 patients (66.1%) were in the BMI ≥18 kg/m2 group.
RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between the two BMI groups with a median overall survival (mOS) of 1 month in the BMI <18kg/m2 group and 3 months in the BMI ≥18 kg/m2 group (p<0.001). In the multivariate analyses, age (hazard ratio [HR], 0.97), chronic obstructive pulmonary (HR, 6.53), BMI <18kg/m2 (HR, 2.31), liver metastasis (HR, 3.53), and peritoneum metastasis (HR, 2.31) were associated with OS.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In this study, we found that presence of cachexia at the time of diagnosis in metastatic GC patients treated with BSC was associated with shorter survival in comparison to non-cachectic patients.