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Attitudes towards weight management in cancer survivors (136.8)
Author(s) -
Zhang Fang Fang,
KochWeser Susan,
Parsons Susan,
Singer Mary Beth,
Folta Sara,
Erban John,
Must Aviva,
Roberts Susan,
Saltzman Edward
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.136.8
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , weight loss , weight gain , weight management , cancer , obesity , weight change , body weight , gerontology , demography , sociology
A large proportion of cancer patients gain weight following cancer diagnosis and treatment, and tend to maintain an undesirable weight years after treatment completion. Undesirable weight gain has been shown to contribute to poor survival outcomes in several cancers. However, cancer survivors may not perceive weight status as important and thus may not be motivated to manage their weight. We conducted a survey to understand attitudes towards weight management in cancer patients and survivors who attended oncology outpatient clinics at Tufts Medical Center between July and November 2012. Over a half (56.5%) of the 209 subjects (mean age=58.3 years; mean BMI=27.9 kg/m2) indicated that they would like to lose weight, followed by those (34.4%) who would like to gain or maintain weight, and those (9.1%) who did not think about their weight. Old age was negatively associated with the attitudes towards weight loss (OR=0.8, 95% CI: 0.6‐0.9 for five‐year increase in age) while being long‐term survivors (off‐treatment 蠅 5 years vs. on‐treatment) (OR=3.3, 95% CI: 1.3‐8.5) and being overweight or obese (BMI 蠅25 vs. <25 kg/m2) (OR=8.1, 95% CI: 3.8‐17.3) was each positively associated with the attitudes towards weight loss. Our findings indicate that the majority of cancer patients/survivors would like to lose weight. Young, overweight/obese and long‐term survivors might be particularly motivated. Intervention needs to be developed to promote weight management in this at‐risk population.