Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

A High-Throughput Multiplexed Screening for Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Diseases, and COVID-19
Published on: July 5, 2022
Diabetes and cancer I: risk, survival, and implications for screening
Adedayo A Onitilo1, Jessica M Engel, Ingrid Glurich
1Department of Hematology/Oncology, Marshfield Clinic Weston Center, 3501 Cranberry Boulevard, Weston, WI 54476, USA. onitilo.adedayo@marshfieldclinic.org
Abstract:
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and cancer are common diseases that are frequently diagnosed in the same individual. An association between the two conditions has long been postulated. Here, we review the epidemiological evidence for increased risk of cancer, decreased cancer survival, and decreased rates of cancer screening in diabetic patients. The risk for several cancers, including cancers of the pancreas, liver, colorectum, breast, urinary tract, and endometrium, is increased in patients with DM. In a pooled risk analysis weighting published meta-analytic relative risk (RR) for individual cancer by differences in their incidence rates, we found a population RR of 0.97 (95 % CI, 0.75-1.25) in men and 1.29 (95 % CI, 1.16-1.44) in women. All meta-analyses showed an increased relative risk for cancer in diabetic men, except studies of prostate cancer, in which a protective effect was observed. The relationship between diabetes and cancer appears to be complex, and at present, a clear temporal relationship between the two conditions cannot be defined. DM also impacts negatively on cancer-related survival outcomes and cancer screening rates. The overwhelming evidence for lower cancer screening rates, increased incidence of certain cancers, and poorer prognosis after cancer diagnosis in diabetic patients dictates a need for improved cancer care in diabetic individuals through improved screening measures, development of risk assessment tools, and consideration of cancer prevention strategies in diabetic patients. Part two of this review focuses on the biological and pharmacological mechanisms that may account for the association between DM and cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Cancer Survival Analysis
Psychoneuroimmunology: Diabetes and Cancer
Diabetes: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Complications
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...