Chemo ups metabolic syndrome risk in early-stage breast cancer

(HealthDay)—For patients with early-stage breast cancer with no preexisting metabolic syndrome (MetS), chemotherapy is associated with increased risk of MetS, according to a study published online May 24 in Cancer.

Christina M. Dieli-Conwright, Ph.D., from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues prospectively tested 86 women with early-stage breast cancer who were free from clinically diagnosed MetS for the presence of the five components of MetS within one week of before starting and after completing (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy. Of the cohort, 46 women were premenopausal and 40 were postmenopausal.

The researchers observed a significant increase in all individual MetS components and the overall MetS score after chemotherapy (P < 0.01). Significant increases were also seen in body weight, percentage body fat, fat mass, lipids, glucose metabolism, and inflammation.

"A 12-week to 18-week course of chemotherapy appears to statistically significantly increase MetS and related anthropometrics, biomarkers of glucose metabolism, and inflammation in patients with early-stage breast cancer with no preexisting MetS," the authors write. "Lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise may be preventive approaches for use during chemotherapy to reduce the onset of MetS in patients with breast cancer."

One author disclosed financial ties to Eisai.

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