Cohort Profile: The Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can)

The metabolic syndrome includes presence of several metabolic risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance/hyperglycaemia and dyslipidaemia. These factors have, separately and jointly, been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. To date, little is known about the metabolic syndrome and cancer risk. Recent prospective studies have either focused on the association between the metabolic syndrome and risk of specific cancers, mainly colorectal and prostate cancer, or between a single factor in the metabolic syndrome and cancer risk. It remains to be elucidated if factors within the metabolic syndrome act in synergy on the risk of cancer. In 2006, we initiated the Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can) in order to create a large pooled cohort to investigate factors of the metabolic syndrome on the association with cancer risk. Existing cohorts in Norway, Austria and Sweden were included in the project. The cohorts were: in Norway, the Oslo study I (Oslo), the Norwegian Counties Study (NCS), the Cohort of Norway (CONOR) and the Age 40 programme (40-years); in Austria, the Vorarlberg Health Monitoring and Prevention Programme (VHM&PP); and in Sweden, the Västerbotten Intervention Project (VIP) and the Malmö Preventive Project (MPP) (Figure 1). The co-ordinating centre is at the Department of Surgical and Perioperative sciences, Umeå University, Sweden, and the Me-Can database is stored at the Oncological Centre, Umeå University, Sweden. The Me-Can project was approved by ethical committees in the respective countries.