Abstract
(1) Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at higher risk of
cancer but how these two diseases associate is still debated. The goal of this study
was the assessment of the overall incidence of cancer among patients with newly diagnosed
T2DM in Hungary. (2) Methods: A nationwide, retrospective, longitudinal study was
performed using a Hungarian database. After exclusion of cases of age < 18 years,
with gestational diabetes, with polycystic ovary syndrome, and with type 1 and prevalent
type 2 diabetes mellitus, the incident T2DM (approx. 50,000 cases yearly) and for
comparison, the diabetes-free Hungarian adult population (approx. 7,000,000 cases
yearly) was included in the study. The primary endpoints were the overall and site-specific
incidence and annual percentage change of the incidence of cancer in both populations.
(3) Results: The overall incidence of cancer in patients amounted to 29.4/1000 and
6.6/1000 with or without T2DM, respectively, and the OR (95%CI) of cancer of the T2DM
group was 4.32 (4.14–4.53), p < 0.0001. The risk of having cancer was age dependent.
The incidence of cancer was declining in the non-diabetic but was unchanged in the
T2DM population. The average lag time of diagnosing cancer after the detection of
T2DM was 3.86 months. (4) Conclusions: Incident T2DM is associated with a significantly
higher overall risk of incident cancer, with a reverse correlation of age. Newly registered
T2DM patients were suggested to be screened for cancer within 6 months.
