Diabetes does not increase cancer risk equally — women with diabetes are at slightly higher risk than men, according to a meta-analysis of published research.
Women with diabetes had a 27% increase in risk for any type of cancer (relative risk 1.27; 95% CI 1.21 to 1.32), compared with a 19% risk increase for men with diabetes (RR 1.19; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.25), said researchers led by Toshiaki Ohkuma, PhD, of the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Overall, cancer risk was approximately 6% higher in women than men with diabetes. The pooled women-to-men ratio of relative risk (RRR) was 1.06 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.09). In addition, cancer mortality risk was 3% higher in women than men (RRR 1.03; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.06), Ohkuma’s group reported online in Diabetologia.
An analysis by cancer site found that, compared with men, women had significantly higher risk for kidney (RR 1.11; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.08), oral (RR 1.13; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.28), and stomach cancer (RR 1.14; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.22) as well as leukemia (RR 1.15; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.28), but significantly lower risk for liver cancer (RR 0.88; 95% CI 0.79 to 0.99).
Source: MedPage Today
