Background:
Metabolic syndrome may act to predict a prognosis biomarker of cancer, related to insulin resistance or glucose regulation. However, little was known for adult cancer survivors and family members.
Aim: We assessed the risk of metabolic syndrome in Korean adult cancer survivors, family members and non-cancer subjects.
Methods: We recruited 72,522 subjects who visited the health promotion center from January 2010 to December 2012 above the age of 40 years. This cross-sectional study compared the prevalence of metabolic syndrome with total 48,934 populations, defined by the revised ATP III using ANOVA analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. This study was approved by the institutional review board of Samsung Medical Center (SMC 2014-07-035).
Results: Among enrolled males (n=24,786) and females (n= 24,148), 1,277 (5.2%) male and 1,191 (4.9%) female were classified with cancer survivors. In female survivors, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome(16.2%) was higher than family members and non-cancer relatives (10.8% and 11.7%, respectively; P<0.001). The prevalence of male survivors was similar with other groups (27.7%, 24.8%, and 25.4%, respectively; P=0.117). The odds ratios (95% Confidence Intervals (CI)) for metabolic syndrome were 1.00 (non-cancer relatives), 0.988 (0.876-1.113, family members), and 1.223 (1.018-1.469, survivors) in female; 0.990 (0.921-1.064, family members), and 1.041 (0.882-1.229) in male, after adjusting for age, smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, BMI and insulin. Each variable was increased for female survivors; glucose (1.214 (1.055-1.396), blood pressure (1.193 (1.058-1.345), HDL-cholesterol (1.20 (1.066-1.35)), and abdominal obesity (1.229 (1.039-1.453)). Stomach survivors showed the low risk of metabolic syndrome (0.593 (0.419-0.838), P=0.009), whereas, breast and prostate survivors had high risk (1.651 (1.025-2.657), 1.463(1.074-1.991), respectively). The family members of thyroid cancer were slightly increased the risk (1.270 (1.014-1.590)). Two primary cancer survivors had a similar risk.
Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome was increased in female Korean adult cancer survivors. The prevalence and metabolic parameters of family member were similar with non-cancer subjects.