People with diabetes are at higher risk for certain cancers than those without the blood sugar disease, including colon and pancreatic cancer for men and breast cancer for women, according to a US study.
Based on a telephone survey of nearly 400,000 adults, the study — whose findings appear in the study Diabetes Care, found that 16 out of every 100 diabetic men and 17 out of every 100 diabetic women said they had cancer.
That compares to 7 per 100 men and 10 per 100 women without diabetes.
“The significant association between cancer and diabetes does not surprise us,” said Chaoyang Li, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, George, the lead author.
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Li said that other studies have also found a link between diabetes and cancer, although there is no proof that one causes the other. After taking into account things such as age, race, smoking and drinking habits, the researchers concluded that diabetic men and women were 10% more likely to have had a cancer diagnosis of any kind.