METFORMIN REDUCES CANCER RISK IN DIABETICS

Diabetes Care. 2010 Oct 27. [Epub ahead of print]
METFORMIN AND CANCER OCCURRENCE IN INSULIN-TREATED TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS.
Monami M, Colombi C, Balzi D, Dicembrini I, Giannini S, Melani C, Vitale V, Romano D, Barchielli A, Marchionni N, Rotella CM, Mannucci E.

Section of Geriatric Cardiology and Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Florence and Careggi Teaching Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Abstract

AbstractObjective: Metformin is associated with reduced cancer-related morbidity and mortality. This study is aimed at assessing the effect of metformin on cancer incidence in a consecutive series of insulin-treated patients. Research Design and Methods: A nested case-control study was performed within a cohort of 1,340 patients, by sampling, for each case, age-, sex- and BMI-matched controls from the same cohort. Results: During a median follow-up of 75.9 months, 112 cases of incident cancer were observed and compared with 370 controls. A significantly lower proportion of subjects was exposed to metformin and sulfanylureas among cases. After adjusting for comorbidity, glargine and total insulin doses, exposure to metformin, but not sulfonylureas, was associated with reduced incidence of cancer (OR 0.46[0.25-0.85],p=0.014, and 0.75[0.39-1.45],p=0.40, respectively). Conclusions: The reduction of cancer risk could be a further, relevant reason for maintaining metformin in insulin-treated patients.