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Study finds increased cancer risk in adults with diabetes between the ages of 40 and 54

 
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Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
 
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26 June 2024, 11:10

Diabetes significantly increases the risk of cancer, especially in people aged 40 to 54, new research suggests. An analysis of data from more than three million patients warns that cancer risk begins to rise shortly before a formal diagnosis of diabetes and peaks in the first year after diagnosis.

According to a new study from Semmelweis University, the risk of pancreatic cancer is highest, more than doubling (129.4%) in people with diabetes compared to the population without the disease. It was also found that the risk of liver cancer is 83% higher in people with diabetes.

The researchers analyzed data from 3,681,774 people from the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund database between 2010 and 2021, of whom 86,537 had diabetes. The age group analyzed ranged from 40 to 89 years.

During the 10-year follow-up period, 8.6% of people in the control group and 10.1% of people with diabetes were diagnosed with cancer.

In addition to pancreatic and liver cancer, the researchers also looked at the risk of four other tumor types.

"We found that people with diabetes (types 1 and 2) had a higher risk of developing all six types of cancer we studied," said Dr Helena Saadi, assistant lecturer at the Centre for Health Services Management Training at Semmelweis University and lead author of the study published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

Patients with diabetes had a 44.2% higher risk of kidney cancer and a 30% higher risk of colorectal cancer compared to the population without the disease. The risk of developing prostate cancer was 17.1% higher in people with diabetes, and the risk of breast cancer was 13.7% higher.

The difference in cancer incidence between people with diabetes and controls was greatest in the younger age group: 5.4% of people with diabetes aged 40 to 54 were diagnosed with cancer within ten years, compared with 4.4% of controls. In contrast, in the 70 to 89 age group, the difference between diabetics and controls was only 0.3 percentage points (12.7% versus 12.4%).

The researchers also observed that the time between diabetes diagnosis and tumor development was very short, and that the diseases often occurred simultaneously.

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