Impact of obesity on outcomes after definitive dose‐escalated intensity‐modulated radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer

BACKGROUND Previous publications have demonstrated conflicting results regarding body mass index (BMI) and prostate cancer (CaP) outcomes after definitive radiotherapy (RT) before the dose escalation era. The goal of the current study was to determine whether increasing BMI was associated with outcomes in men with localized CaP who were treated with dose‐escalated RT. METHODS The authors identified patients with localized (T1b‐T4N0M0) CaP who were treated with definitive intensity‐modulated RT and image‐guided RT from 2001 through 2010. BMI was analyzed as a continuous variable. Adjusting for confounders, multivariable competing risk and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the association between BMI and the risk of biochemical failure (BF), distant metastases (DM), cause‐specific mortality (CSM), and overall mortality. RESULTS Of the 1442 patients identified, approximately 20% had a BMI