The relationship between body mass index and outcomes in leukemic patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is being used increasingly in an attempt to cure many hematological disorders. Obesity has become a world wide phenomenon and is a known risk factor for numerous medical conditions, but its role in transplant outcomes remained controversial. Total of 192 patients with acute leukemia who underwent sibling HLA matched HSCT were analyzed to find the effect of pre-transplant body mass index (BMI) on transplant outcomes such as time to engraftment, infections, graft vs. host disease (GvHD), and overall survival (OS) for the period of three yr (April 2006-March 2009). There was a significant correlation between higher pre-transplant BMI and shorter engraftment time (p = 0.010); but no relation between BMI and GvHD, infection, and OS was found. The results of this study showed that patients with higher BMI may have a shorter engraftment time; but lower, although not significant, survival rate compared to non-obese patients.