Letter to the Editor Re: The Impact of Metabolic Syndrome on Patients Undergoing Breast Reduction Surgery

Excerpt

We read with interest the article by Riddle et al. [1], who utilized the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database to investigate the impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on 30-day postoperative outcomes after reduction mammoplasty. We, and others, have shown that MetS portends an increased risk of perioperative complications following procedures such as colectomy [2], adrenalectomy [3], and pancreatectomy [4]. Conversely, Riddle et al. observed no association between MetS and 30-day morbidity in their analysis of 12,827 patients who underwent breast reduction surgery. Although a significantly increased readmission rate was reported in patients with MetS on univariate analysis (3.4% vs 1.4%; P = 0.008), this significance was lost after adjustment for confounders on multivariable analysis. While the authors are to be commended for studying the impact of MetS on outcomes following breast surgery (an association that has not previously been investigated), we feel that there are important limitations of this manuscript that warrant discussion, and the results should be interpreted with these in mind. …