Body composition and cancer survival: a narrative review

2023/10/27 by Patrick T. Bradshaw · 27 citations
Medicine · Psychology · #Anthropometry #Body Composition Measurement Techniques #Cancer #Cancer Risks and Factors #Cancer survival #Composition (language) #Computer science #Data science #Enthusiasm #Intensive care medicine #Internal medicine #Medicine #Modalities #Narrative review #Nutrition and Health in Aging #Psychology #Social psychology #Social science #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41416-023-02470-0

openalex publication_date 2023/10/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26

Abstract

Interest in understanding the relationship between body composition and cancer survival has remained strong for decades, with a number of recent systematic reviews on the topic. However, the current state of evidence is based on heterogeneous exposure definitions based on anthropometry, yielding inconsistent findings with regard to this association. Recently the field has taken an exciting direction with the application of radiological assessments to measure specific aspects of body composition, yet reconciliation of findings from these modern assessment tools with those from the historic use of anthropometric data proves challenging. In this paper, I briefly review the biological basis for a link between body composition and cancer survival and summarize the epidemiological evidence with consideration to specific exposure measures. As enthusiasm is building around novel assessments, I conclude with a discussion of issues that researchers should be aware of when interpreting results from these new modalities.

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