Diabetic women more prone to cancers of ovary, uterus-June 14, 2010,

Diabetic women more prone to cancers of ovary, uterus

Monday, June 14, 2010, 16:19 This news item was posted in Discoveries category and has 0 Comments so far.
Women with diabetes have a higher risk of developing cancer, says a new study.

The study observed 16,721 diabetics, differentiating between men and women and defining the relative cancer risks for each group.

They arrived the conclusion that diabetic women are more prone to develop cancers in ovaries and uterus.

Interaction between diabetes and female sex hormones play a crucial role in aggravating these cancers, researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

“The interaction of diabetes and female hormones appears to exaggerate the risk, and make certain organs like the uterus and ovaries more receptive to certain kinds of cancer,” stated Dr. Gabriel Chodick, who along with Dr. Varda Shalev led the research.

The researchers, however, found that in the case of men diabetes appears to have a preventative effect on conditions like prostate cancer.

Diabetes in fact, reduces the cancer risk associated with insulin-like hormones by 47 percent.

Diabetic women should undergo screening for colon cancer earlier, the researchers recommend.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 60% of the world’s cardiac patients will be Indians by 2010

A recent study conducted by Aventis Pharma Ltdalso found that people living in India’s capital city of Delhi has higher rates of diabetes and hypertension incidence compared to other metros like Mumbai.

21% of Delhiites suffer from both diabetes and hypertension leading to a possible twin epidemic, shows the New Delhi results of the SITE (Screening India’s Twin Epidemic) study.

The New Delhi results follow the Maharashtra results announcement in November 2009. The results of other States covered in the SITE study will be shared over the next few months.

SITE is the first cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed cases of diabetes and hypertension amongst nearly 20,000 patients visiting general practitioners and consultant physicians across major cities all over India. The SITE study has been commissioned by sanofi-aventis in order to quantify and increase awareness of diabetes and hypertension becoming twin epidemics in India.

Of the diabetic population in New Delhi already aware of their condition, almost two-of-every-three (62%) had ‘uncontrolled’ diabetes with their Hba1c levels more than 7% and of the hypertensive population three-out-of-four were uncontrolled.