(20-07-09) A Longitudinal Study of the Metabolic Syndrome and Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

Geoffrey C. Kabat1, Mimi Kim1, Rowan T. Chlebowski2, Janu Khandekar3, Marcia G. Ko4, Anne McTiernan5, Marian L. Neuhouser5, Donna R. Parker6, James M. Shikany7, Marcia L. Stefanick8, Cynthia A. Thomson9 and Thomas E. Rohan1

1 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; 2 LA Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California; 3 Department of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago/Evanston, Illinois; 4 Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona; 5 Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; 6 Department of Community Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island; 7 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; 8 Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California; and 9 Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
The metabolic syndrome, characterized by abdominal obesity, high blood glucose levels, impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Several studies have examined the association of the individual components of the metabolic syndrome with breast cancer; to date, however, no study has assessed the metabolic syndrome per se in relation to breast cancer risk. Furthermore, previous studies have relied only on baseline assessment of components of the syndrome. Therefore, we assessed the association of the metabolic syndrome with the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer among women in the 6% sample of subjects in the Women's Health Initiative clinical trial and the 1% sample of women in the observational study who had repeated measurements of the components of the syndrome during follow-up. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association of breast cancer risk with the presence of the metabolic syndrome, as well as its components, at baseline and in time-dependent analyses. After exclusion of women with diabetes, among 4,888 women with baseline measurements, 165 incident cases of breast cancer were ascertained over a median of 8 years of follow-up. The presence of the metabolic syndrome at baseline was not associated with altered risk. Of the individual components measured at baseline, diastolic blood pressure showed a borderline positive association with breast cancer. In time-dependent covariate analyses, however, certain scenarios indicated a positive association between the metabolic syndrome and breast cancer, due primarily to positive associations with serum glucose, serum triglycerides, and diastolic blood pressure.

Source: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(7):2046?53

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.