TITLE:
Altered Levels of Blood Glucose and Serum Lipids in Sudanese Patients with Ovarian Cancer
AUTHORS:
Maysoon A. Hassaan, Atif H. Khirelsied, Tagelsir M. Ali, Ahmed A. Agab-Aldour
KEYWORDS:
Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, Ovarian Cancer, Serum Lipids, Triacylglycerol
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.13 No.5,
May
31,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: The etiology of ovarian cancer is not well-understood; numerous
metabolomics profiling, epidemiological, and
hospital-based case control studies have associated abnormal levels of blood
glucose and serum lipids with the risk and the prognosis of various types of
cancers including ovarian cancer. The association between the risk of the incidence of ovarian cancer and the alterations in the
levels of blood glucose and serum lipids is not well defined. Objective: In this study we aimed to compare the levels of blood glucose, triacylglycerols, low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with
different stages of ovarian cancer and healthy controls to determine how they
relate to the risk and prognosis of ovarian cancer. Methodology: In a
case-control cross sectional study, we enrolled ninety-nine Sudanese women,
diagnosed with ovarian cancer but had not received any kind of treatment as the
study group, and a control group of forty-one age-matched, apparently healthy
women. The patients were classified according to the International Federation
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists staging system into two groups: early stages
(stage I & II) and late stages (stages III & IV). Blood glucose and
serum lipids; triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were determined by
enzymatic colorimetric methods using commercially available analytical kits.
The IBM SPSS version 20 software was used for statistical analysis. A
Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of the median concentrations of blood
glucose, triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the study groups. Logistic regression model was used to estimate the
relative risk of ovarian cancer in relation to levels of blood glucose and
serum lipids. P value of 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Our data indicated significantly higher levels of blood glucose (p , triacylglycerols (p = 0.002), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p , and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein
cholesterol (p = 0.023), in ovarian cancer
patients compared to the control subjects. No significant difference was found in the levels of blood glucose
or any of the serum lipids between patients in the early stages (stage I & II)
and those in late stages (stage III & IV) of ovarian
cancer. The
logistic regression analysis indicated significant association between the
elevated levels of the blood glucose, triacylglycerols and low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol and the risk of the ovarian cancer. Conclusion: We conclude that the levels of blood glucose, triacylglycerols, low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol differ
significantly between ovarian cancer patients and the healthy control subjects.
The risk of ovarian cancer was positively associated with the levels of blood
glucose, triacylglycerols and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and
negatively associated with levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Therefore, determination of blood glucose and serum lipids, particularly,
triacylglycerols, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol may be helpful as
diagnostic indicators of ovarian cancer (OC).