The role of sarcopenic obesity in high‐grade endometrial cancer

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between obesity and sarcopenia in relation to overall survival (OS) and disease‐specific survival (DSS) in high‐grade endometrial cancer patients.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study in women diagnosed with high‐grade endometrial cancer (EC) between February 2006 and August 2017 in the Royal Cornwall Hospital who had abdominal computerized tomography (CT)‐scan as part of routine staging work‐up. Sarcopenia was assessed by measuring psoas‐, paraspinal‐ and abdominal wall muscles on CT and defined by skeletal muscle index ≤41 cm2/m2. Sarcopenic obesity was defined as sarcopenia combined with body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2.ResultsA total of 176 patients with median age of 70 years and median BMI of 29.4 kg/m2were included in the study. The majority of patients (38%) had endometrioid type histology. Sarcopenia was not associated with OS (P = 0.951) or DSS (P = 0.545) However, in multivariate analysis, sarcopenic obesity was associated with reduced OS in endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) patients (P = 0.048).ConclusionSarcopenic obesity is associated with OS in high‐grade EEC patients, while sarcopenia without obesity is not related to OS or DSS in high‐grade EC. In non‐endometrioid endometrial cancer, there is no association between sarcopenic obesity and survival.