Diabetes and cancer are common diseases both with enormous impact on health burden globally. The increased risk of several types of cancer among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus has been indicated repeatedly. This study aimed at exploring and describing the association between type 2 diabetes and cancer incidence. A cohort of 428,326 people with type 2 diabetes was identified from the Finnish National Diabetes Register and followed up through a register linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry for cancer incidence during 1988-2014. A total of 74,063 cases of cancer occurred in this cohort in 4.48 million person-years. This accounted for 16% more than the expected cancer incidence in the Finnish general population; the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15-1.16). There was a statistically significant excess of cancers of lip (SIR = 1.40, CI = 1.28-1.53), liver (SIR = 2.44, CI = 2.35-2.53), pancreas (SIR = 1.75, CI = 1.70-1.79), stomach (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.18-1.26), colon (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.19-1.25), gallbladder and bile ducts (SIR = 1.29, CI = 1.21-1.36), non-melanoma skin (SIR = 1.18, CI = 1.15-1.22), kidney (SIR = 1.42, CI = 1.37-1.47), bladder (SIR = 1.17, CI = 1.13-1.21), and thyroid (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.12-1.31). There was a small statistically significant decrease in prostate cancer incidence (SIR = 0.95, CI = 0.93-0.96). This study showed an association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and the incidence of cancer at numerous sites in the Finnish population.
European journal of epidemiology. 2018 Sep 04 [Epub ahead of print]
Katri Saarela, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Reijo Sund, Ilmo Keskimäki, Sirpa Hartikainen, Eero Pukkala
Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271, Helsinki, Finland. ., Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271, Helsinki, Finland., Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, PO Box 33, 00014, Helsinki, Finland., Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland., School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland.