Pretreatment triglycerides‐to‐high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio in postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer

Abstract

Raised triglycerides (TG) and reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐c) are components of metabolic syndrome. Both high TG and metabolic syndrome have been reported to be risk factors of endometrial cancer. Therefore, triglycerides‐to‐high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL‐c ratio) may be a useful biological indicator in managing endometrial cancer. We aimed to explore the association between pretreatment TG/HDL‐c ratio and endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women, and to evaluate its potential role in the disease. Pretreatment serum lipid profile and TG/HDL‐c ratio were retrospectively analyzed for 167 postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer and 464 matched noncancer controls. Compared with controls, pretreatment TG/HDL‐c ratio in endometrial cancer patients significantly elevated regardless of whether patients had diabetes or overweight/obesity (P\u2009<\u20090.05). Further analyses showed that pretreatment TG/HDL‐c ratio increased significantly with advanced tumor stage. Interestingly, TG/HDL‐c ratio of type I endometrial cancer patients was higher than those with type II endometrial cancer. A positive association was found between pretreatment TG/HDL‐c ratio and tumor stage (adjusted r = 0.176, P\u2009= 0.027) in endometrial cancer group. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis yielded the cut‐off value of 1.52 for TG/HDL‐c ratio to discriminate patients with cancer from controls (area under the curve, 0.689; sensitivity, 51.5%; specificity, 84.1%). Multivariate logistic regression model identified TG/HDL‐c ratio\u2009≥ 1.52 (odds ratio\u2009= 4.123; P < 0.001) as an independent predictor of endometrial cancer. TG/HDL‐c ratio was positively associated with endometrial cancer clinical features, such as tumor stage and pathogenetic type. Accordingly, pretreatment TG/HDL‐c ratio might be a potential marker for endometrial cancer.