Metabolic Syndrome in Endometrial Cancer Patients: Systematic Review

Abstract

Large numbers of previously published studies show the importance of Metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the development of endometrial cancer (EC), the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States. Defining the association between EC and MetS is complicated by inconsistencies among the MetS definitions used in EC. The aim of this study was to identify the MetS definition that is most practical for EC patients, as well as to estimate the prevalence of MetS using each definition in EC patients. A systematic literature search of PubMed and Embase was conducted to identify studies published between 1988 and 2018 and reporting the components of MetS in EC patients. Relevant studies were selected based on the presence of key MetS components, including central obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure, and impaired glucose metabolism. Two independent reviewers extracted information from these articles. Our literature search has identified 400 articles, 8 of which were used for the final analyses. In this systematic review, the prevalence of MetS in EC patients varied based on the definition used, ranging from 6% for International Diabetes Federation (IDF) to 62% for Harmonized. IDF and Harmonized of MetS were the most practical definitions for women with EC. While our review included different approaches to diagnosing MetS and linking it to EC, we argue that there is a need for single and practical MetS definition criteria to improve diagnostics, decrease the inconsistencies across the future EC studies, and foster a cohesive understanding of the evidence regarding the association between MetS and EC.

Keywords: endometrial cancer; metabolic syndrome; metabolic syndrome definitions; metabolic syndrome prevalence; practical definition.