A Clinical Analysis of the Association Between Nifedipine and Insulin Usage and the Increased Incidence of Colonic Polyps

To investigate the association between the incidence of colon polyps and colon cancer and the use of clinical medications, including nifedipine and insulin, thereby providing a scientific basis for the development of chemoprevention strategies for colorectal cancer and for guiding rational clinical drug use.

In a cross-sectional study, we analyzed the clinical data of 2571 eligible patients who underwent colonoscopy in our hospital from 2014 to 2022, aiming to investigate the association between certain commonly used drugs and the incidence of benign and malignant colon polyps.

There were 1197 subjects without polyps and 1374 patients diagnosed with colon polyps, among which 1059 were low-grade adenomatous polyps, 149 were high-grade adenomatous polyps, 120 were inflammatory polyps, and 44 were cancerous polyps. Statistically significant differences were observed in several clinical parameters across different pathological types of colon polyps and the non-polyp group.The prevalence of different pathological types of colon polyps across various segments of the colon was generally consistent.The association between medications and colonic polyps was analyzed as follows: (1) Significant differences were observed between nifedipine, aspirin, statins, and insulin when comparing the non-polyp group with the adenomatous polyp group (p < 0.05). (2) Significant differences were found between nifedipine, metformin, and insulin when comparing the single benign colonic polyps to multiple polyps (p < 0.05).

The use of nifedipine, insulin, and metformin was associated with an increased risk of developing colonic polyps, whereas statin therapy was linked to a decreased risk.