Metabolic Syndrome Is tied to Poor Prognosis in Patients With Breast Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant Therapy: Study

A new study published in the journal of Cancer Medicine found that in patients with breast cancer undergoing neoadjuvant treatment (NAT), metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with worse survival outcomes and decreased rates of pathological complete response (pCR).

Breast cancer (BC), which has already overtaken lung cancer as the most frequently diagnosed disease, accounted for 2.3 million cases (11.7%) of the 19.3 million new cancer cases diagnosed globally in 2020. The BC survival rate has increased dramatically as a result of better and more intensive therapies created in recent decades, such as neoadjuvant treatment.

For BC patients with locally advanced illness, NAT has become the accepted standard of care. Obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hypertension are the core components of metabolic syndrome (MetS), a multifactorial metabolic disorder that was first associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and is now a major global public health concern. There aren't many large-scale research on metabolic syndrome patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancer. This study was to look at how MetS affected the prognosis of breast cancer patients receiving NAT.

Retrospective analysis was done on the data of breast cancer patients who received NAT at our facility between January 2017 and December 2019. The parameters linked to MetS and pathological complete response were determined using a logistic regression model and chi-square test. Both univariate and multivariate analyses of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were conducted using the Cox proportional risk model.

A total of 164 (18.0%) of the 910 patients that were included had a diagnosis of MetS, 568 (62.4%) had a stage II diagnosis, and 342 (37.5%) had a stage III diagnosis. A greater incidence rate of MetS was linked to stage III and postmenopausal status. And a decreased pCR rate was linked to MetS.

The 5-year OS and DFS of the non-MetS group were noticeably superior than the MetS group's. The non-MetS group's OS and DFS were noticeably superior to the MetS group's in premenopausal women. In postmenopausal women, there were no appreciable variations in DFS or OS between the two groups.

MetS functioned as an independent factor linked to DFS and OS in the Cox proportional risk model. In individuals with breast cancer undergoing NAT, MetS was linked to a poor outcome. Overall, the patients with MetS had far worse 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates than people without the condition.

Source:

Ma, Y., Zhang, J., Jiao, D., Chen, X., & Liu, Z. (2024). Metabolic Syndrome Is Associated With Poor Prognosis in Patients With Breast Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant Therapy. In Cancer Medicine (Vol. 13, Issue 24). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.70484