Evaluating the effects of metabolic syndrome on the outcomes of patients with colorectal cancer

This review evaluated the effect of metabolic syndrome on recurrence (return of the cancer) and survival rates in patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC).  

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a group of health problems which can increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes. These risk factors are high blood pressure, high blood sugar, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and increased abdominal (belly) fat. MetS is defined as having at least 3 of these risk factors. Previous studies have shown that MetS also increases the risk of developing CRC. However, it is not clear if MetS has any effects on cancer recurrence and survival in patients with CRC. 

This study included 36079 previously treated CRC patients. 19.5% of these patients were diagnosed with MetS. The main parameters evaluated were overall survival or OS (defined as the percentage of patients who have survived for a certain period of time) and recurrence-free survival or RFS (defined as the percentage of patients who have no evidence of disease after a certain period after treatment). MetS was found to have no significant effect on OS or RFS. However, patients who had high blood pressure or high blood sugar were found to have a lower OS (by 8% and by 17% respectively) and lower RFS (by 22% and by 25% respectively). On the other hand, abnormal cholesterol levels were found to improve OS by 23% and RFS by 29%.

In summary, MetS did not show any effect on either overall survival or recurrence rates. However, high blood pressure or high blood sugar by itself had a negative impact on outcomes in CRC patients, while abnormal cholesterol levels improved their survival and recurrence rates. 

This was a retrospective study (it looked back at patients who have been treated in the past, rather than following them throughout their treatment and determining their outcomes), which is known to have lower statistical power.