Analysis of overweight/obese pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia: a report from the Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group AML-05 study.

Abstract

The dosage of chemotherapy drugs for overweight/obese children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been empirically reduced based on ideal body weight (BW) in Japan to reduce the risk of adverse events. We investigated the associations between pre-therapeutic body mass index (BMI) and clinical outcomes among children with AML. A total of 280 children were divided into two groups based on the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards: a healthy-weight group (n=254), and an overweight/obese group (n=26). If BW exceeded 1.2 times the standard BW of Japanese children, the dosage of chemotherapy drugs was calculated using 1.2 times the standard BW. The dosage of chemotherapy drugs was reduced during at least one chemotherapy cycle in 24 of 26 patients (92.3%) in the overweight/obese group, compared with zero patients in the healthy-weight group. Overall/event-free survival, cumulative incidence of relapse, and treatment-related mortality (TRM) did not differ between the overweight/obese and healthy weight groups. However, the frequency of bacteremia was higher in the overweight/obese group (80.8 vs. 52.4%, P=0.006). This indicates that TRM may increase when chemotherapy drug dosage is not corrected in overweight/obese patients. Drug reduction is a potential treatment strategy.