Source: www.curetoday.com
\nAuthor: Alex Biese<\/p>\n
A population-based study of nearly 7,000 long-term cancer survivors found that diabetes among long-term cancer survivors \u201cwas associated with cancer site, older age, lower education, higher socioeconomic deprivation, higher body mass index, physical inactivity, other comorbidities, and poorer prognosis,\u201d with cancer survivors who also have diabetes facing a risk of death that is 29% higher than that faced by survivors who do not have diabetes, according to a study published in the journal Cancer<\/em>.<\/p>\n The study, conducted by a team of German researchers, drew on information from 6,952 long-term cancer survivors who had received diagnoses of breast, colorectal or prostate cancer between 1994 and 2004, were recruited for participation between 2008 and 2011 and were then followed until 2019, with 962 (13.8%) of long-term cancer survivors reporting that they had diabetes at the start of the study and 1,828 cancer-free individuals serving as controls in the study.<\/p>\n While the study found that diabetes was as prevalent in cancer-free participants as it was among long-term cancer survivors who had survived at least five years after receiving their diagnosis, researchers were sure to put those findings in context.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to stress that our finding of no increased prevalence of (diabetes) in (long-term cancer survivors) should not be interpreted as an indication of a lower risk of (diabetes) in this population,\u201d researchers wrote. \u201cRather, it highlights the potentially poor prognosis in cancer patients with diabetes and survivors, and the need for an improved care to reduce the risk of (diabetes) and its consequences in cancer patients and survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing in Cancer<\/em>, researchers noted previous work which showed that as much as a third of cancer survivors live with concurrent diabetes and explained that diabetes can impact cancer survival due to vascular complications, promoting cancer progression and metastasis and inducing therapy resistance.<\/p>\n The researchers stated that their findings display the need for improved communication and coordination of care between specialists and general practitioners to support continuity of care for patients.<\/p>\n \u201cIndividuals with type 2 (diabetes) experience an increased risk of all\u2010cause mortality compared with those without (diabetes), which is attributed to a wide range of cardiovascular or non-cardiovascular diseases (e.g., ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, liver cirrhosis, viral hepatitis, incident cancer),\u201d researchers noted. \u201cThe increase of mortality in cancer survivors with concurrent (diabetes) is also likely to be related to the increase of potentially fatal events from diabetic complications.<\/p>\n This may be the major cause that a roughly 30% increased risk of death was observed to be associated with (diabetes) in our study.\u201d<\/p>\n These findings are the latest data reported throughout 2023 regarding poor outcomes experienced by patients with both diabetes and a history of cancer.<\/p>\n Diabetes was among the modifiable chronic health conditions cited alongside living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area as contributing to an increased risk of death at least five years after diagnosis for childhood cancer survivors in a study published in JAMA Network Open<\/a><\/em>, while a study published in Diabetologia<\/a><\/em> showed that older patients with type 2 diabetes saw a 1.5-fold increased risk of mortality from colorectal, pancreatic, endometrial and liver cancers.<\/p>\n