Diabetes Mellitus and Prostate Cancer Risk in Asian Countries: a Meta-analysis

Background/Aims: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is widely considered to be associated with risk of cancer, but studiesinvestigating the association between DM and prostate cancer in Asian countries have reported inconsistentfindings. We examined this association by conducting a detailed meta-analysis of studies published on the subject.
Methods: Cohort or case-control studies were identified by searching Pubmed, Embase and Wanfang databasesthrough May 30, 2012. Pooled relative risk (RR) with its corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) werecalculated using the random-effects model. Subgroup analyses were performed by the study type.
Results: Finally,we identified 7 studies (four cohort studies and three case-control studies) with a total of 1,751,274 subjectsfrom Asians. DM was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in Asians (unadjusted RR= 2.82, 95%CI 1.73–4.58, P < 0.001; adjusted RR= 1.31, 95% CI 1.12–1.54, P = 0.001). Subgroup analyses by study designfurther confirmed an obvious association.
Conclusion: Findings from this meta-analysis strongly support thatdiabetes is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in Asians.