Pre-operative body composition and surgical outcomes 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The associations between pre-operative weight and body composition changes and surgical outcomes in patients with obesity and gastrointestinal cancer: a prospective observational study
IRAS ID
361634
Contact name
Robert Copeland
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Hallam University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
The aim of this research is to investigate whether changes in body weight and composition before cancer surgery are related to patients’ surgical outcomes, physical fitness, nutritional status, and quality of life.
Many patients with obesity are encouraged to lose weight before surgery. However, there is insufficient evidence to recommend whether patients should try to lose weight before cancer treatment. This study will look at the relationships that weight and body composition changes before surgery have on surgical outcomes, physical fitness, nutritional status, and quality of life.
The study will recruit from the Active Together cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation service, which supports patients with exercise, nutrition, and wellbeing throughout their cancer treatment. All adults who are receiving cancer care in South Yorkshire and are candidates for curative oesophago-gastric or colorectal cancer are referred to Active Together.
For this study, patients with obesity (body mass index more than 30 kg/m2) will complete two data collection sessions – one at the start of their cancer prehabilitation and one shortly before their surgery. Participants’ body weight, size, and composition will be measured, and they will complete questionnaires on quality of life and nutritional status. At the second assessment, they will complete the same measures and be asked about any intentional weight loss strategies they have tried.
The research team will use this data in conjunction with surgical data collected from the surgical team and physical fitness and wellbeing data measured by Active Together to see if body weight and composition changes are related to surgical, physical fitness, nutritional, and quality of life outcomes.
The study findings will contribute to the generation of evidence-based guidelines to be established regarding weight management before cancer surgery. They will also help with the design of future research, for example to test whether helping patients with weight loss before cancer surgery improves outcomes.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/YH/0019
Date of REC Opinion
16 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion