Study Supports Metabolic Syndrome, Bladder Cancer Link

Patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) are at elevated risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study.

In a hospital-based case-control study, researchers led by Maurizio Montella, MD, of Istituto Tumori “Fondazione Pascale IRCCS,” Naples, Italy, compared 690 patients with incident urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) and 665 cancer-free matched control patients. 
Dr. Montella's team defined MetS as the presence of at least 3 of 4 selected indicators: abdominal obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and diabetes.

Patients with 3 components of MetS had a significant 2-fold increased risk of UCB compared with patients who had no components, the investigators reported online in BMC Cancer (2015;15:720). Patients with all 4 components had a nearly 8-fold increased risk. Overall, 8.1% of UCB cases were attributable to MetS, according to the researchers.

“Both the worldwide increasing MetS prevalence and the rising incidence of UCB suggest that each year a considerable fraction of this cancer is attributable to the MetS,” the authors concluded.
​
Additionally, study results showed that diabetes was associated with 2.2 times increased risk of UCB compared with the absence of diabetes. The presence of abdominal obesity was associated with a 1.6 times increased risk of UCB compared with its absence. Hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were not significantly associated with UCB risk, findings that are consistent with previous prospective studies, the researchers said.

---