Diabetes again linked to colon cancer risk: study
He said it seems likely that some aspect of diabetes contributes to colon cancer, but it’s not certain what.
One theory is that hormones are involved.
People with Diabetes tend to have high levels of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, as well as related hormones called insulin-like growth factors. Those hormones cause cells to grow and spread, and that may include cancer cells.
Impact of Diabetes on Colon Cancer Recurrence and Survival
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that over a ten-year period, diabetics with colon cancer didn’t fare as well as non-diabetics with colon cancer. People with diabetes were 21% more likely to have a recurrence and they were 42% less likely to survive.
If diabetes does contribute to colon cancer, it’s not clear what the implications would be.
People with diabetes are not advised to get colon cancer screening any more often, or at a younger age, than people without diabetes, said Yuhara.
It’s also not clear if that advice will change at any time in the future. Experts recommend that most people start colon cancer screening at the age of 50.
People with certain risk factors for colon cancer, such as a strong family history of the cancer, are told to start screening earlier. Diabetes is not currently considered one of those risk factors.
Diabetes tied to colon cancer in men, not women
A new study confirms there is a link between type 2 diabetes and an increased risk of colon cancer - but the added threat may be less than previous research has suggested, and seems to be fading among women.
A number of studies over the years have found that people with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of developing colon cancer than those without diabetes. A 2005 “meta-analysis” combining the results of 15 previous studies found that men and women with diabetes were about one-third more likely to develop colon cancer than their diabetes-free counterparts.
However, a few studies since then have found a connection between diabetes and colon cancer among men, but not women.