Impact of Preoperative Visceral Fat Area Measured by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis on Clinical and Oncologic Outcomes of Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Background: Some studies have shown that an increase in visceral fat is associated with postoperative clinical and oncologic outcomes. However, no studies have used bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to determine the effects of visceral fat on the oncologic outcomes of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to investigate the impact of preoperative visceral fat area measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis on clinical and oncologic outcomes of colorectal cancer Methods: This study included 203 patients who underwent anthropometric measurements by BIA before surgical treatment for CRC between January 2016 and June 2020.

Results: According to the cut-off level of VFA by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, 85 (40.5%) patients had a low VFA, and 119 (59.5%) had a high VFA. Multivariate analysis found that preoperative CRP (hazard ratio (HR), 3.882; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.001-15.051; p = 0.050) and nodal stage (HR, 7.996; 95% CI, 1.414-45.209; p = 0.019) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival, while sex (HR, 0.110; 95% CI, 0.013-0.905; p = 0.040), lymphovascular invasion (HR, 3.560; 95% CI, 1.098-11.544; p = 0.034), and VFA (HR, 4.263; 95% CI, 1.280-14.196; p = 0.040) were independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival (DFS).

Conclusions: Preoperative VFA measured by BIA had no significant impact on postoperative clinical outcomes and was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival.