Metabolic syndrome contributes to an increased recurrence risk of non-metastatic colorectal cancer

OBJECTIVES: Epidemiological data suggests a close link between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and non-metastatic colorectal cancer (NMCRC). However, the relationship between MetS and the outcome of NMCRC is less well understood. We aim to evaluate the impact of MetS on the prognosis in NMCRC patients. METHODS: We performed a large cohort study of 1069 NMCRC patients. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the cumulative survival rate. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyze the prognosis associated with MetS adjusting for clinicopathologic variables. RESULTS: MetS was identified in 20.7% of NMCRC patients. Patients with MetS were more likely to be older, higher levels of blood glucose, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, and uric acid than patients without MS (P < 0.05 for all). During a mean period of 59.6 months follow-up, patients with MetS had a statistically significantly lower rate of disease-free survival (DFS) than the patients without MetS (P = 0.014), especially local recurrence (P = 0.040). However, there was no difference in overall survival (P = 0.116). Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of MetS was an independent risk factor for DFS (HR = 0.733, 95%CI 0.545–0.987, P = 0.041), but not for OS (P = 0.118). CONCLUSIONS: MetS is associated with an increased recurrence risk of NMCRC.