(ChemotherapyAdvisor) – A study based on data from the Cancer Prevention Study–II Nutrition Cohort has concluded type 2 diabetes mellitus is not associated with an increased risk of epithelial ovarian cancer, American Cancer Society investigators reported in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention online August 31.
However, they noted that “higher risks with non-serous subtypes and among insulin users cannot be ruled out” and called for larger studies to clarify associations of type 2 diabetes mellitus “with or without insulin use with risk of ovarian cancer overall and by histologic subtypes.”
“Despite consistent associations of type 2 diabetes mellitus with hormonally related cancers such as breast and endometrium, the relation between type 2 diabetes mellitus and ovarian cancer risk is unclear,” the investigators wrote.
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Between 1992 and 2007, they identified 524 incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases among 63,440 postmenopausal women in the Cancer Prevention Study–II Nutrition Cohort, a prospective study of U.S. men and women predominantly 50 years of age and older. Examined were associations of type 2 diabetes mellitus status, duration, and insulin use with epithelial ovarian cancer and with serous and non-serous histologic subtypes.
Results showed type 2 diabetes status and duration were not associated with increased risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (RR 1.05, 95% CI, 0.75-1.46). The relative risk was found to be higher for type 2 diabetes mellitus with insulin use (RR 1.28, 95% CI, 0.74-2.24) than for type 2 diabetes mellitus without insulin use (RR 0.96, 95% CI, 0.64-1.43); however, this difference was not statistically significant (P difference=0.39). “Diabetes appeared to be more strongly associated with non-serous (RR 1.41, 95% CI, 0.70-2.85) than serous (RR 0.71, 95% CI, 0.41-1.23) histologic subtypes,” the investigators reported.
