Study on the Relevance of Metabolic Syndrome and Incidence of Gastric Cancer in Korea

(1) Background: This study aimed to determine the relevance between stages of metabolic syndrome (MS) progression and the incidence of gastric cancer utilizing a big data cohort for the national health checkup. (2) Methods: There were 7,785,098 study subjects, and three stages of metabolic syndrome were categorized using the health checkup results from 2009. Incidence of gastric cancer was traced and observed from the date of the health insurance benefit claim in 2009 until 31 December, 2016, and Cox hazard-proportional regression was performed to determine the risk of gastric cancer incidence based on the stage of progression for metabolic syndrome. (3) Results: Hazard ratio (HR) incidence rate for the MS group was 2.31 times higher than the normal group (95% CI 2.22–2.40) after adjustment (Model 4). The HR incidence rate of gastric cancer for the pre-MS group was 1.08 times higher (95% CI 1.04–1.12) than the normal group, while the HR incidence rate of gastric cancer for the MS group was 1.26 times higher (95% CI 1.2–1.32). (4) Conclusions: Causal relevance observed in this study between metabolic syndrome and incidence of gastric cancer was high. Promotion and education for active responses in the general population and establishment of appropriate metabolic syndrome management systems to prevent gastric cancer are needed.