Long-Term Insulin Use May Raise Colon Cancer Risk
08 Oct
2004
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Long-term insulin use by
patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with an
increased risk of colon cancer, according to research
reported in the medical journal Gastroenterology.
Dr. Yu-Xiao Yang and colleagues, based at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, conducted a
study among patients in the General Practice Research
Database from the UK. The researchers compared insulin use
between 125 diabetic patients who developed colon cancer and
1195 similar diabetic subjects who did not.
The researchers estimate that if 100,000 insulin users were
followed for 1 year, 197 would develop colon cancer. By
contrast, if the same number of non-insulin users were
followed, only 124 would develop colon cancer.
The risk of colon cancer seemed to rise as the duration of
insulin use increased. For example, insulin use for 3 to 5
years raised the cancer risk by threefold, whereas use for
more than 5 years increased the risk by about fivefold.
There was no evidence that other diabetes drugs, such as
metformin or sulfonylurea, increased the risk of colon
cancer.
Since diabetics can rarely substitute other drugs for their
insulin, the researchers recommend that they strictly adhere
to colon cancer screening guidelines.
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