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Cancer incidence among Finnish people with type 2 diabetes during 1989–2014

  • DIABETES MELLITUS
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Abstract

Diabetes and cancer are common diseases both with enormous impact on health burden globally. The increased risk of several types of cancer among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus has been indicated repeatedly. This study aimed at exploring and describing the association between type 2 diabetes and cancer incidence. A cohort of 428,326 people with type 2 diabetes was identified from the Finnish National Diabetes Register and followed up through a register linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry for cancer incidence during 1988–2014. A total of 74,063 cases of cancer occurred in this cohort in 4.48 million person-years. This accounted for 16% more than the expected cancer incidence in the Finnish general population; the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15–1.16). There was a statistically significant excess of cancers of lip (SIR = 1.40, CI = 1.28–1.53), liver (SIR = 2.44, CI = 2.35–2.53), pancreas (SIR = 1.75, CI = 1.70–1.79), stomach (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.18–1.26), colon (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.19–1.25), gallbladder and bile ducts (SIR = 1.29, CI = 1.21–1.36), non-melanoma skin (SIR = 1.18, CI = 1.15–1.22), kidney (SIR = 1.42, CI = 1.37–1.47), bladder (SIR = 1.17, CI = 1.13–1.21), and thyroid (SIR = 1.22, CI = 1.12–1.31). There was a small statistically significant decrease in prostate cancer incidence (SIR = 0.95, CI = 0.93–0.96). This study showed an association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and the incidence of cancer at numerous sites in the Finnish population.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been partly supported by the research Grants to JT from the Finnish Cancer Foundation, European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes and Sanofi-Aventis. JT is an advisory board member of Novo Nordisk and Merck KGaA. SH has received lecture fees from MSD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chronic Disease Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271, Helsinki, Finland

    Katri Saarela & Jaakko Tuomilehto

  2. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Tuomilehto

  3. Dasman Diabetes Institute, Dasman, Kuwait

    Jaakko Tuomilehto

  4. Diabetes Research Group, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Jaakko Tuomilehto

  5. Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, PO Box 33, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Reijo Sund

  6. Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Reijo Sund

  7. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Ilmo Keskimäki & Eero Pukkala

  8. Department of Health and Social Care Systems, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Ilmo Keskimäki

  9. School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Sirpa Hartikainen

  10. Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, Unioninkatu 22, 00130, Helsinki, Finland

    Eero Pukkala

Authors
  1. Katri Saarela
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  2. Jaakko Tuomilehto
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  3. Reijo Sund
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  4. Ilmo Keskimäki
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  6. Eero Pukkala
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Correspondence to Katri Saarela.

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Authors KS, RS, IK and EP declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Saarela, K., Tuomilehto, J., Sund, R. et al. Cancer incidence among Finnish people with type 2 diabetes during 1989–2014. Eur J Epidemiol 34, 259–265 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0438-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0438-0

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