Anthropometric and Biochemical Status in Adult Women with Pre-Surgical Breast Cancer at Peruvian National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common type among women and it’s one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the world, the nutritional risk factors associated with this disease are mainly excess weight and the accumulation of fat at abdominal level. The aim of this study is to determine the anthropometric and biochemical nutritional status in adult women with pre-surgical breast cancer in a specialized cancer institute. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional and prospective observational study was conducted on 215 women between 19 and 59 years old with pre-surgical breast cancer, evaluated from July to October 2017. The data was analyzed through the SPSS program, version 22. RESULTS: Of the 215 participants, 74.9% were between 40 and 59 years old. 68.3% had excess weight (40.9% overweight and 27.4% obesity) and 90.7% presented high waist circumference. In the biochemical measures, 32.2% had anemia and 44.9% some degree of immunosuppression. The comparison between treatments showed significant differences with hemoglobin level (p<0.05) and the total lymphocyte count (p<0.05), no significant differences regarding body mass index (BMI) (p=0.929), waist circumference (p=0.789) and arm muscle circumference (p=0.886) were found. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to work more with this group of patients to improve their weight through nutritional education programs and to follow up during the disease process.