One risk factor that can raise the chance of developing various types of cancer is obesity.
According to a recent study, individuals with type 2 diabetes who received treatment with glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists had a lower chance of developing ten distinct malignancies linked to obesity. Type 2 diabetes and obesity are prevalent illnesses that can be harmful to a person’s health.
Researchers are beginning to make connections between data in this area to determine whether diabetes treatment techniques are associated with future health hazards.
A research that was published in JAMA Network examined three treatment groups of adults with type 2 diabetes: those on insulin, metformin, and glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs).
In depth
This investigation was an observational retrospective study. Deidentified electronic health records were examined by researchers in order to get data from a sizable sample. In their analysis, they used information from more than 1.6 million individuals.
Every participant had type 2 diabetes and had never been diagnosed with any of the thirteen malignancies linked to fat. In addition, each participant had been prescribed one of three types of medications to help manage their diabetes: GLP-1 receptor agonists, insulin, and metformin.
Researchers tracked the incidence of each of the thirteen malignancies linked to obesity in participants over a fifteen-year follow-up period.
After doing an investigation, the researchers discovered that those who were prescribed GLP-1RAs had a lower risk associated with 10 out of the thirteen malignancies linked to obesity than those who were supplied insulin. This includes a lower chance of developing pancreatic, ovarian, colorectal, esophageal, and gallbladder cancers.
In this study, patients receiving GLP-1RAs had a lower risk of stomach cancer (hazard ratio of less than one) than those using insulin, although this difference was not statistically significant. When compared to insulin, the researchers did not discover any correlation between GLP-RAs and a lower incidence of thyroid or breast cancer.
The hazards for people taking GLP-1RAs and metformin were then compared by the researchers. Participants on GLP-1RAs had a lower risk of colorectal and gallbladder cancer, albeit this difference was not statistically significant when compared to those taking metformin.
Take away
Overall, researchers discovered that GLP-1RA users had a higher risk for kidney cancer and no decreased risk for any of the malignancies when compared to metformin users. According to the study’s findings, people taking GLP-1RAs had a significantly lower risk of developing 10 out of 13 malignancies linked to obesity than people receiving insulin.
The findings imply that GLP-1RAs may aid in the prevention of some malignancies linked to obesity.
The notion that GLP-1RAs may help reduce the risk of cancer is supported by this study. But it’s also critical to take into account the study’s shortcomings. Firstly, there is a chance of bias, confounding, and diagnosing mistakes due to the nature of the study and the usage of electronic health data. Additionally, they lacked drug adherence data, which might have affected the study’s conclusions. Lastly, the participants’ insurance type and healthcare utilisation could not be specifically controlled for.
