Metabolic syndrome and risk of endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women: a prospective study

Background: Obesity is a strong risk factor for endometrial cancer, but it is unclear whether metabolic syndrome (MetS) contributes to endometrial cancer risk over and above the contribution of obesity. Methods: We examined the association of MetS and its components with risk of endometrial cancer in a sub-cohort of 24,210 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative cohort study. Two variants of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition of the MetS were used: one including and one excluding waist circumference (WC). Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the association of the study exposures with disease risk. Results: When WC was included in the definition, MetS showed an approximately two-fold increase in endometrial cancer risk (HR 2.20; 95% CI 1.61–3.02); however, when WC was excluded, MetS was no longer associated with risk. We also observed that women with hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and hypertension, in combination, had almost a twofold increased risk of endometrial cancer, independent of WC (HR 1.94; 95% CI 1.09, 3.46). Glucose, and, in particular, WC and body mass index were also positively associated with risk. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that MetS may predict risk of endometrial cancer independent of obesity among women with the remaining four Mets components.