OBJECTIVE: Several studies have shown that antidiabetic drugs and obesity can modulate the risk of developing cancer. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the use of antidiabetic drugs and obesity on the risk of developing cancers in type 2 diabetics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data for 1220 patients were collected from the processing of files and a pre-established questionnaire. The anthropobiological parameters and the associated treatment type have been unspecified.

RESULTS: Women (OR=17.26; 95% CI=2.88-103.45, p<0.01), overweight individuals (OR=4.81; 95% CI=1.63-14.14, p<0.01) and hypertensive diabetic subjects (OR=3.82; 95% CI=1.39-10.49, p< 0.01) are more exposed to cancers. It is interesting to note that diabetic subjects treated with insulin have a reduced risk of developing cancer (OR=0.22; 95% CI=0.07-0.67, p<0.01). Diabetic subjects treated with metformin have a four and a half times higher risk of developing cancer (OR=4.61; 95% CI=1.48-14.37, p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: In type 2 diabetic subjects, cancer is significantly linked to overweight, to the presence of essential hypertension in individuals under hypotensive as well as in patients treated with metformin.