Effect of anthracycline-based postoperative chemotherapy on blood glucose and lipid profiles in patients with invasive breast cancer.

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have shown that chemotherapy can cause abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism in breast cancer patients; however, the effects of different chemotherapy regimens on the glucose and lipid profiles in this population remain unclear.

METHODS

The clinical data of 141 invasive breast cancer patients who were treated in our center from January 2019 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected. All patients received surgical treatment and postoperative chemotherapy in our center. According to the postoperative chemotherapy regimens, these patients were divided into an observation group (n=100, treated with anthracycline-based regimens) and a control group (n=41, treated with non-anthracycline-based regimens). Blood glucose and lipid profiles were compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, the observation group had a significantly higher radiotherapy rate (74.00% vs. 43.90%, P=0.001) and a significantly higher proportion of patients receiving >6 cycles of chemotherapy (85.00% vs. 4.88%, P=0.000). There were no significant significances in the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) before and after treatment (P>0.05) in both groups. TC and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were not significantly different between the observation group and control group before chemotherapy (P>0.05). After chemotherapy, fasting blood glucose significantly increased in the observation group (5.31±0.98 vs. 4.96±0.53, P=0.031), while HDL significantly decreased (1.08±0.28 vs. 1.19±0.31, P=0.042). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that anthracycline-based chemotherapy was a protective factor for increased fasting blood glucose after chemotherapy in invasive cancer breast patients [P=0.022, odds ratio (OR) =0.227, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.064-0.808], whereas receiving >6 cycles of chemotherapy was a risk factor for increased fasting blood glucose (P=0.014, OR =4.216, 95% CI: 1.337-13.296).

CONCLUSIONS

Anthracyclines have little effect on fasting blood glucose in breast cancer patients; however, the incidence of abnormal blood glucose metabolism is gradually increasing after prolonged anthracycline use. Compared with other chemotherapy drugs, anthracycline-based chemotherapy has no significant impact on blood lipid metabolism.