The prognostic effect of weight loss prior to chemotherapy was analyzedusing data from
3,047 patients enrolled in 12 chemotherapy protocols of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology
Group. The frequency of weight loss ranged from 31 percent for favorable non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma to 87 percent in gastric cancer. Median survival was significantly shorter in nine
protocols for the patients with weight loss compared to the patients with no weight loss.
Chemotherapy response rates were lower in the patients with weight loss, but only in …