New research suggests women who 65 years of age or older and have metabolic syndrome had an increased risk of endometrial cancer.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by low levels of "good" cholesterol and high levels of fats known of as triglycerides, the American Association for Cancer Research reported. The increased risk was found to be independent of other risk factors including being obese or overweight. Past studies have found a link between metabolic syndrome and endometrial cancer risk, but researchers were not sure if the risk was driven by obesity alone or was linked to other components of the condition.
"We found that a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was associated with higher risk of endometrial cancer, and that metabolic syndrome appeared to increase risk regardless of whether the woman was considered obese," said Britton Trabert, PhD, an investigator in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics of the National Cancer Institute. "Although our study was not designed to evaluate the potential impact of preventing metabolic syndrome on endometrial cancer incidence, weight loss and exercise are the most effective steps a woman can take to prevent developing metabolic syndrome."
To make their findings the researchers performed a case-control study using data from the SEER-Medicare linked database. The data included 16,323 women diagnosed with endometrial cancer between 1993 and 2007 and 100,751 women without endometrial cancer.
They found a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome as defined by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria and International Diabetes Foundation was associated with a 39 percent and 103 percent increased risk of endometrial cancer, respectively. After factoring in women who were overweight or obese those numbers dropped to 21 and 17 percent.
The team concluded each metabolic syndrome condition including "excessive weight, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and impaired fasting glucose" contributed to endometrial cancer risk individually.
The study was published in a recent edition of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. It w was supported by the National Cancer Institute Intramural Research Program.
