Diabetes Linked to Reduced Prostate Cancer Risk

A recent analysis of the data collected from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study confirmed that men with diabetes type 2 (diabetes mellitus) appear to be less prone to developing prostate cancer than men without diabetes.

According to a report published in the March 15th issue of the International Journal of Cancer, prostate cancer was 17% less likely in men with diabetes. However, the reduced risk did not become apparent until at least one year after the onset of diabetes.

The report also suggested that other studies have also reported this apparent inverse relationship between diabetes and the risk of prostate cancer. However, many of these studies did not adjust for lifestyle factors or the timeframe since the onset of diabetes.

This current study featured 46,168 men without diabetes and 1,613 men with diabetes. In the follow-up from 1986 to 2004, prostate cancer was diagnosed in 4,511 men, according to Dr. Edward Giovannucci and his colleagues at Harvard School of Public Health.

The men who had diabetes for 1 to 6, 6 to 15, or >15 years were 18%, 25%, and 22% less likely to develop prostate cancer, respectively, than the men without diabetes. This inverse relationship appeared strongest in the pre-PSA testing era (before 1994) than afterwards.

The results also indicated that men who were obese and had diabetes appeared to have a lower risk of prostate cancer than men with only one of the two conditions.

“The overall evidence for an inverse association between diabetes mellitus and prostate cancer continues to grow and studying these biological clues will continue to provide insight into the metabolic and hormonal changes behind prostatic cancer,” the authors concluded.

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