BACKGROUND: Associations between body mass index (BMI), outcome, and leukemia-related factors in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remain unclear. We investigated associations between pretherapeutic BMI, cytogenetic abnormalities, and outcome in a large multinational cohort of children with AML.

METHODS: We included patients, age 2-17 years, diagnosed with de novo AML from the five Nordic countries (2004-2016), Hong Kong (2007-2016), the Netherlands and Belgium (2010-2016), and Canada and USA (1995-2012). BMI standard deviations score for age and sex was calculated and categorized according to the World Health Organization. Cumulative incidence functions, Kaplan-Meier estimator, Cox regression, and logistic regression were used to investigate associations.

RESULTS: In total, 867 patients were included. The median age was 10 years (range 2-17 years). At diagnosis, 32 (4%) were underweight, 632 (73%) were healthy weight, 127 (15%) were overweight, and 76 (9%) were obese. There was no difference in relapse risk, treatment-related mortality or overall mortality across BMI groups. The frequency of t(8;21) and inv(16) increased with increasing BMI. For obese patients, the sex, age, and country adjusted odds ratio of having t(8;21) or inv(16) were 1.9 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-3.4) and 2.8 (95% CI 1.3-5.8), respectively, compared to healthy weight patients.

CONCLUSIONS: This study did not confirm previous reports of associations between overweight and increased treatment-related or overall mortality in children. Obesity was associated with a higher frequency of t(8;21) and inv(16). AML cytogenetics appear to differ by BMI status.