Abstract:Objective To explore the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and quality of life after gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer. Methods A total of 950 patients who underwent gastrectomy for early gastric cancer were retrospectively analyzed. According to BMI of the patients before operation or one year after operation, they were divided into underweight group, normal weight group and overweight group. The age and sex of the patients, the BMI before operation to one year after operation, the operation mode, the type of radical resection, the tumor pathological stage and histological type were collected. All patients were followed up by telephone for one year, and the overall survival rate and recurrence-free survival rate were calculated. Results There were significant differences in the age distribution, the preoperative BMI, the BMI at 1 year after operation, the surgical mode, the type of radical resection, the tumor pathological stage and histological type among the three groups (p < 0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients in the overweight group (84%) was higher than that in the underweight group (58%) and the normal weight group (68%), the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The overall survival and relapse-free survival rates of the 3 groups at 1 year after operation were in the sequence of overweight group (88%, 82%) > normal weight group (70%, 66%) and underweight group (54%, 54%), the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that age over 65 years, low BMI at 1 year after operation, R1 and R2 palliative resection and high tumor stage (stage Ⅱ, Ⅲand Ⅳ) were the risk factors for postoperative survival of early gastric cancer patients. However, high BMI at 1 year after operation had positive effect on the survival of the patients with early gastric cancer. Conclusions Body weight intervention is of great significance for the improvement of therapeutic effect of gastrectomy in patients with early gastric cancer. It is worthy of further research and promotion.