(image: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The results of a new study show that cancer patients have a higher chance of contracting diabetes that non-patients.
A joint team of researchers from the National Cancer Center and Samsung Medical Center revealed the results of the study today.
A total of 500,000 samples were analyzed for the cohort study.
The study was published in the recent edition of Jama Oncology, a monthly medical journal published by the American Medical Association.
From the large sample, the medical research team compared the diabetes data of cancer patients to a control group of non-cancer patients.
The results showed that cancer patients were 35 percent more likely to develop diabetes than non-cancer patients.
A breakdown per cancer type indicated that pancreatic cancer patients had the highest rate of diabetes at 5.15 times higher than the control group, followed by renal cancer (2.06 times higher), liver cancer (1.95 times higher), gallbladder cancer (1.79 times higher), lung cancer (1.74 times higher), hematologic malignancy (1.61 times higher), breast cancer (1.6 times higher), stomach cancer (1.35 times higher), and thyroid cancer (1.33 times higher).
In addition, cancer patients had the highest chance of being affected with diabetes within two years of being diagnosed with cancer.
The research team also found that the increase in diabetes stemmed from various causes, not only from the cancer itself but also from the cancer treatment process.
Hwang Bo-ryul, one of the medical experts who carried out the research, said that a patient with pancreatic cancer would likely have a higher chance of developing diabetes during the treatment process.
“The high amounts of steroids used for treatment and anticancer medicine may attribute to diabetes,” said the doctor.
The research team also said that obesity, a lack of exercise, imbalances in diet as well as smoking and alcohol consumption could be the cause of diabetes in addition to cancer.
Professor Cho Ju-hui of Samsung Medical Center said that more awareness and support from society is needed so that patients who beat cancer can return to their normal and healthy lives.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
