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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Isolation of Human Islets from Partially Pancreatectomized Patients
Published on: July 30, 2011
Insulin therapy and biliary tract cancer: insights from real-world data
Xiaohui Qi1,2, Ping He3, Huayan Yao4
1Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Objective:
The association between insulin therapy and the risk of biliary tract cancer (BTC) is uncertain. We aimed to assess this risk in type 2 diabetic patients.
Methods:
Using electronic medical data from the Shanghai Hospital Link database, 202,557 patients with type 2 diabetes (164,997 insulin never-users and 37,560 insulin ever-users) were identified in this study between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2016, with follow-up until December 31, 2019. By propensity score matching, an ever-user was matched with a never-user. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate risk ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for three subtypes of BTC (intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC), and gallbladder cancer (GBC)).
Results:
At a mean follow-up of 5.33 years, 143 cases of BTC were observed. The crude incidence rates (per 100,000 person-years) of ECC, ICC, and GBC in ever-users:never-users were 10.22:3.63, 2.04:2.04, and 8.17:6.01, respectively. Insulin therapy was associated with an increased risk of ECC (HR, 4.10; 95% CI, 1.54-10.92; P = 0.005) compared to patients who never used insulin. No statistically significant results were observed for insulin and ICC/GBC. Consistent results were also found in the original cohort.
Conclusions:
The relationship between insulin therapy and BTC is type-specific. Further studies are warranted to provide evidence on the identification of ECC risk groups among type 2 diabetic patients.
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