Abdominal obesity and paraspinal muscles in computed tomography image: relationships with triple negative breast cancer

Obesity is a risk factor for the development of breast cancer, like many other cancers, and we aimed to evaluate the association between abdominal fat distribution and muscle mass measured on computed tomography (CT) and triple-negative breast cancer subtype in women. We studied 421 patients with breast cancer diagnosed at our hospital who had an abdominal CT scan. Abdominal fat distribution, including visceral, subcutaneous, and total fat amounts in mm², and paraspinal muscle density (psoas, erector spinae multifidus, and total muscle density) were measured using CT scans. Analysis was performed to assess the association between participants' medical information obtained from electronic medical records (EMR), abdominal fat tissue distributions, paraspinal muscle tissue densities, and triple-negative and non-triple-negative breast cancer. Visceral obesity and the ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat tissue were found to increase the risk of triple-negative breast cancer in women (OR = 1.89 [95% CI = 1.23-2.94]) and (OR = 9.09 [95% CI = 5.55-14.28]), respectively. Regression analysis based on body composition also revealed an association between low fat and low muscle mass and triple-negative breast cancer (OR = 10 [95% CI = 5.55-20]). Our findings demonstrate a clear association between triple-negative breast cancer and abdominal fat distribution and visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio, suggesting that abdominal fat distribution is a useful indicator of triple-negative breast cancer risk factors.