Metabolic syndrome in patients with prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer among men in Brazil. Recently, several studies have hypothesized a relationship between PCa and metabolic syndrome (MS). The aim here was to identify an association between MS and PCa.

Cross-sectional study, Fundação de Beneficência Hospital de Cirurgia (FBHC) and Universidade Federal de Sergipe.

Laboratory and anthropometric parameters were compared between PCa patients (n = 16) and controls (n = 16).

The PCa patients showed significantly greater frequency of MS than did the controls (p = 0.034). Serum glucose was higher and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol was lower than in the controls, although without significant differences. There were significant differences in blood pressure (p = 0.029) and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.004). Pearson linear correlation showed a positive association between waist-to-hip ratio and prostate specific antigen (r = 0.584 and p = 0.028). Comparing subgroups with and without MS among the PCa patients, significant differences (p < 0.05) in weight, height, body mass index, hip circumference and lean body mass were observed, thus showing higher central obesity in those with MS. The serum glucose values were also higher in MS patients (p = 0.006), thus demonstrating that insulin resistance has a role in MS physiopathology.

Our study suggests that MS may exert an influence on the development of PCa. However, it would be necessary to expand the investigation field with larger sample sizes and cohorts studied, to test the hypothesis generated in this study.