USC study suggests type 1 diabetes may significantly raise bladder cancer risk
Keck School of Medicine of USCPeer-Reviewed Publication
People with type 1 diabetes (previously called juvenile diabetes) are 4.29 times more likely to develop bladder cancer, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. The new analysis is the first to control for the effects of tobacco smoking, a factor that likely obscured the heightened risk in earlier studies. Because smoking is a strong contributor to bladder cancer, research designed to identify other risk factors must control for—or separate out—the influences of smoking from influences of other proposed causes. But no prior studies on type 1 diabetes and cancer had done so. The research team suspected that people with type 1 diabetes may smoke less than the general population. To investigate that idea the research team gathered data from authoritative sources such as the World Health Organization to estimate smoking prevalence in populations where the original studies were conducted. The patterns the team found using a technique called meta-regression supported the team’s hypothesis, helping explain why earlier analyses failed to detect a connection. After accounting for patterns of smoking, they estimated that people with type 1 diabetes were 4.29 times more likely to get bladder cancer.
- Journal
- Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice