Diabetes mellitus and prostate cancer risk in Asian countries: a meta-analysis

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is widely considered to be associated with risk of cancer, but studies investigating the association between DM and prostate cancer in Asian countries have reported inconsistent findings. We examined this association by conducting a detailed meta-analysis of studies published on the subject.

Cohort or case-control studies were identified by searching Pubmed, Embase and Wanfang databases through May 30, 2012. Pooled relative risk (RR) with its corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated using the random-effects model. Subgroup analyses were performed by the study type.

Finally, we identified 7 studies (four cohort studies and three case-control studies) with a total of 1,751,274 subjects from Asians. DM was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in Asians (unadjusted RR= 2.82, 95% CI 1.73-4.58, P < 0.001; adjusted RR= 1.31, 95% CI 1.12-1.54, P = 0.001). Subgroup analyses by study design further confirmed an obvious association.

Findings from this meta-analysis strongly support that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in Asians.