Older women who have been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may be at greater risk of developing breast cancer breast cancer than females without diabetes, according to new research published in the journal Diabetes Care .
Scientists from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, examined and analyzed data involving around 170,000 women in British Columbia.
The women were divided into two study groups; the first group consisted of women who had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and the other half was composed of women who were diabetes-free. The researchers monitored both groups for four to five years.
Over that period, they found that around 1.4 per cent of the diabetes patients developed breast cancer .
Although participants in both groups had roughly the same breast cancer risk, the study showed that older, post-menopausal women with diabetes were at a slightly higher risk of being diagnosed with the cancer than those without diabetes .
Women aged 55 and over with diabetes diagnosed in the last three months were found to be around 30 per cent more likely to also receive a breast cancer diagnosis than women who were diabetes-free.
The study's author said one possible explanation for the link is that the changes in insulin and blood sugar levels that come with diabetes make it easier for breast tumours to grow.
Diabetic Women More Likely To Develop Breast Cancer
Tue, 25 Oct 2011
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