Adult Postmenopausal Women With Type 2 Diabetes May Have Higher Risk Of Invasive Cancer, Cancer Death.

Medscape (4/28, Castellino) reports that an “analysis from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)” indicates “that, compared with women without diabetes, adult postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes are at a significant 13% increased risk of invasive cancer and have a 46% higher risk for cancer death.” The data “also suggest that long-term metformin therapy — the first go-to medicine for type 2 diabetes — may be linked with a reduced risk of cancer mortality.” Researchers found that “in women with carcinomas who were taking metformin to treat their type 2 diabetes, the risk of dying from cancer was about the same as it was for women without diabetes, but the risk of death was 45% higher for women with cancer and diabetes treated with nonmetformin medications.” The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.