The Effect of Body Mass Index and Total Cholesterol Levels on Histopathological Grading in Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer is a widespread cancer that affects high percentiles of women worldwide.The development and aggressiveness of breast cancer cells can be evaluated depending on the histopathological grading which reflects the degree of differentiation. Several factors related to lifestyle can impact the development of breast cancer. Obesity is an important factor that received the attention in recent years. The using of body mass index(BMI) is still the common method for identifying obesity which is defined when having 30kg/m² or more. Previous epidemiological and clinical studies found that obesity was correlated with advanced breast cancer especially in postmenopausal patients . Also, the changes in cholesterol levels can influence breast cancer risk in the context of obesity. The findings of other studies is still controversial; many studies revealed that elevated total cholesterol levels could increase breast cancer risk while others found to have no effect. Due to the possibility of previous factors' effect on breast cancer progression, we purposed in this study to assess the association of BMI and total cholesterol with histopathological grading according to menopausal status among a group of breast cancer patients in Syria