Does cancer increase risk of diabetes?

Bottom Line: Developing cancer was associated with increased risk for later diabetes in a nationally representative sample of the Korean general population.

Why The Research Is Interesting: Diabetes is a risk factor for several types of cancer and some previous research suggests cancer increases the risk of developing new diabetes.

Who and When: 524,089 men and women (ages 20 to 70) in a nationally representative sample of the Korean general population who had no history of cancer and were followed for up to 10 years (2003-2013)

What (Measures and Outcomes): New cancer (exposure); new type 2 diabetes using insurance claim codes (outcome)

Study Design: This was an observational study. Researchers were not intervening for purposes of the study and cannot control for all the natural differences that could explain the study results.

Authors: Juhee Cho, Ph.D., of Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, and coauthors

Results: Cancer was associated with an increased risk of diabetes, even after taking into account precancer risk factors, and that increased risk was highest in the first two years after cancer diagnosis.

Limitations: No information on cancer stage, only limited information on cancer treatment and management; and outcomes based on claims data.

Study Conclusions: Physicians should remember that patients with cancer develop other clinical problems, such as diabetes, with higher frequency than individuals without cancer, and should consider routine diabetes screening in these patients.

More information:
doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.1684

Provided by The JAMA Network Journals