DIABETES AND BREAST CANCER
DIABETES INCREASES THE RISK OF DEATH FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
Women with both breast cancer and diabetes have a higher risk of death than women with breast cancer alone, a recent meta-analysis of many studies examined together undertaken by Johns Hopkins researchers has found. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the findings.
NELSON: What they found is that among women with breast cancer and diabetes was associated with a higher mortality. They looked at 8000 published studies in the literature, to try and get all the data together to see if there was a consistent conclusion. Interestingly enough it was not consistently associated with a greater chance to die of breast cancer but overall mortality was increased. Some of this was related to breast cancer though. :26
Nelson says this relationship of diabetes and mortality in many people with cancer is one focus of current research, as is the potential for metformin, a drug used to manage diabetes, to help. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
