Research

Mixed

Post-diagnosis weight loss of >10 kg is associated with a 2.66 times greater all-cause mortality compared to maintaining stable weight.

Significant weight loss after a breast cancer diagnosis (more than 10kg) is associated with a much higher risk of death. While weight loss is often seen as positive, unexplained or large weight loss can be a sign of underlying health problems. Survivors should report significant weight loss to their care team to rule out other causes, rather than assuming it is a positive outcome.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
women who lost >10 kg had 2.66 times greater mortality (95% CI, 1.73-4.07; Table 3).
Hazel B. Nichols et al. · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · 2009

Why this rating

Large cohort, long follow-up, adjusted for confounders, but observational.

Source

Body Mass Index Before and After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Associations with All-Cause, Breast Cancer, and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality

Hazel B. Nichols et al. · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · 2009

DOI 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-08-1094

cohort · n=3993Cited 263×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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