In a retrospective analysis of 73 lung squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with the chemotherapy regimen of gemcitabine plus cisplatin, higher body mass index and younger age were linked with longer progression-free survival, the length of time that a patient lives with cancer but it does not get worse.

Patients with better response to treatment and higher body mass index had longer overall survival in the Thoracic Cancer analysis.

"Patients' clinical pathological characteristics may be used to predict the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy and survival," the authors wrote.

Source: Wiley