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Type 2 diabetes mellitus and gender-specific risk for colorectal neoplasia

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Abstract

Although a positive association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and colorectal cancer is well established, uncertainty exists about risk differences in diabetic men and women when considering colorectal neoplasia (CN). The main objective was to examine gender-specific associations of T2DM with CN in a population-based cohort study of adults in Germany. This analysis is based on participants of the ESTHER-study, a population-based cohort study. Participants were 50–74 years old at baseline and underwent colonoscopy during 5 year follow-up. CN detected at colonoscopy were validated by medical records review. Total and gender-specific associations of T2DM at baseline and CN were estimated using log-binomial regression. Overall, 55 cases of CN were detected in 166 participants with T2DM and 328 cases in 1,360 participants without T2DM. In women, CN was found in 32 % of participants with T2DM and in 18 % without T2DM (adjusted prevalence ratio (PR): 1.66 95 % CI 1.04–2.64). In men, prevalence for CN was 35 % for those with T2DM and 33 % for those without T2DM (adjusted PR = 1.01; 95  % CI 0.71–1.43). T2DM might have a stronger impact on CN among women than among men. Further research should examine possible reasons for these differences.

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Abbreviations

CN:

Colorectal neoplasia

CRC:

Colorectal cancer

FU1:

Follow-up investigations after 2 years

FU2:

Follow-up investigations after 5 years

HRT:

Hormone replacement therapy

PR:

Prevalence ratio

NSAID:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

T2DM:

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the State Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Baden-Württemberg. We very gratefully acknowledge the assistance of our medical documentation office and participation of the study subjects, without them the study would not be possible.

Conflict of interest

All authors have declared no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center, INF 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Heike Ursula Krämer, Heiko Müller, Dietrich Rothenbacher, Elke Raum & Hermann Brenner

  2. Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Saarland, Präsident-Baltz-Strasse 5, 66119, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Christa Stegmaier

  3. Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Dietrich Rothenbacher

Authors
  1. Heike Ursula Krämer
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  2. Heiko Müller
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  5. Elke Raum
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  6. Hermann Brenner
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Correspondence to Hermann Brenner.

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Krämer, H.U., Müller, H., Stegmaier, C. et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus and gender-specific risk for colorectal neoplasia. Eur J Epidemiol 27, 341–347 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9686-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9686-6

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