Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus as a Risk Factor for Female Breast Cancer in the Population of Northern Pakistan

Background: There has been much research work in the past to ascertain the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and breast cancer, but definitive evidence has been scanty. The present study was carried out to determine the association of type 2 diabetes mellitus with breast cancer in the female population of Northern Pakistan. Materials and Methods: This casecontrol study was carried out in the Oncology Department of NORI Hospital. A total of 400 patients were included. Data were entered into PSPP 0.8.1. Twotailed significance tests were used and a pvalue of 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were a higher percentage of postmenopausal women in the diabetic breast cancer patients group as compared to the nondiabetic subset. The odds ratio for the association between diabetes and risk of developing breast cancer was elevated with statistical significance (OR 2.96; 95 % CI 1.36.3; pvalue0.004). The results of our study showed that diabetes is associated with a risk of developing breast cancer, especially in postmenopausal women (OR 4.928; 95 % CI 2.111.3; pvalue0.001). The association was particularly marked in obese subjects (OR 31.49; 95 % CI 1.8 536; p value0.01), as compared to nonobese subjects (OR 0.642; 95 % CI 0.21.7). Conclusions: Diabetes is strongly associated with obesity and it tends to increase the risk of breast Cancer, especially in postmenopausal women. A highrisk subset for breast cancer comprised postmenopausal, diabetic and overweight women.