Characteristics and outcome of adult patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia and increased body mass index treated with the PETHEMA Protocols

Objective The obesity/overweight may have an influence on APL outcomes. Methods This is the biggest multicentre analysis on 1320 APL patients treated with AIDA‐induction and risk‐adapted consolidation between 1996 and 2012. Patients body mass index (BMI) was classified as underweight (<18.5 kg/m 2 ), normal (18.5‐25 kg/m 2 ), overweight (25‐29.9 kg/m 2 ), and obese (≥30 kg/m 2 ) according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Results and conclusions Relationship between male gender, older age, and other known laboratory abnormalities in overweight/obese patients was significant. The induction mortality rate was significantly higher in APL with BMI ≥25 vs BMI <25 (10% vs 6%; P  = .04). APL patients with BMI ≥25 had a trend to lower OS (74% vs 80%; P  = .06). However, in the multivariate analysis, BMI did not retain the independent predictive value ( P  = .46). There was no higher incidence of differentiation syndrome with BMI ≥25, but there was a trend in obese. There was no difference in relapse rate according to the BMI. In summary, overweight/obesity does not represent an independent risk factor for APL outcomes. The influence of obesity in APL patients treated with chemotherapy‐free regimens remains to be established.