Dr. Yuanjie Mao led a major study that was published in the JAMA Oncology journal.
The study looked at whether there’s a link between the amount of insulin a person takes every day and their chances of getting cancer.
What they found is quite fascinating: those with type 1 diabetes who take a higher dose of insulin are more likely to get cancer, and this link is even stronger in those who have insulin resistance.
The Findings
Dr. Mao explained, “In type 1 diabetes patients, usual factors like obesity, blood sugar control, and blood pressure control weren’t linked to cancer.
However, people who took more insulin had a higher chance of getting cancer. This suggests that doctors should think about the potential cancer risk when they’re treating type 1 diabetes patients who need a lot of insulin every day.”
How Was the Study Conducted?
To do this study, Dr. Mao worked with Wenjun Zhong, an expert from Merck Research Labs. They looked at data from 1,303 type 1 diabetes patients over 28 years.
This data included information about things like smoking, alcohol use, exercise, family medical history, and more.
They also used data from two key studies called the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC).
Additional Findings
Dr. Mao discovered that age and sex are linked to cancer chances. A higher daily dose of insulin is more risky than age. Also, women have a higher risk than men.
But it’s still not clear why type 1 diabetes patients have higher chances of getting cancer.
“Cancer is more common in people with type 1 diabetes than in people without diabetes,” said Liz Beverly, a co-director of the diabetes institute.
“Dr. Mao’s research helps explain why this might be. His work will lead to more research in this area and might change the way we screen for cancer and recommend insulin doses.”
Why Is This Important?
This is the first study that looked into why type 1 diabetes patients have a higher chance of getting cancer. Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2, but it still affects a lot of people.
In type 2 diabetes, obesity, chronic inflammation, and insulin resistance are linked to a higher cancer risk. However, the link wasn’t clear in type 1 diabetes until this study.
Dr. Mao cautioned that more research is needed, even though the study suggests that the more insulin a person takes, the more likely they are to get cancer.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about the causes of cancer, and vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer, and results showing low-fat diet could be key to stopping cancer growth.
The study was published in JAMA Oncology.
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