Increased cancer mortality in diabetic people treated with insulin: A register-based follow-up study

Abstract

Background: The national 10-year Development Programme for the Prevention and Care of Diabetes (DEHKO) was launched in Finland in 2000. The program focused on improving early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and preventing diabetes-related complications. The FinDM database was established for epidemiological monitoring of diabetes and its complications. This study monitors mortality trends among people with diabetes during the DEHKO programme. Methods. A database obtained from a compilation of several administrative national health registers was used to study mortality in people with diabetes in 1998-2007. Relative excess mortality between people with and without diabetes was analyzed using Poisson regression models. Results: The number of diabetic people in Finland increased by 66% from 1997 reaching 284 832 in 2007. Like among non-diabetic people, all-cause mortality decreased in people with diabetes. Overall excess mortality remained high in people with diabetes; in 2003-2007 RRs in the non-insulin treated was 1.82 for men and 1.95 for women and in the insulin treated 3.45 and 4.29, and excess coronary heart disease mortality in the insulin treated: RR was 4.71 in men and 7.80 in women. A striking result was mortality from neoplasms; an increase in mortality emerged in almost every age group of insulin treated women. Conclusion: Compared to non-diabetic people our monitoring showed declining excess mortality in non-insulin treated diabetic people mainly due to a decrease in mortality from cardiovascular diseases. For insulin treated, relative overall excess mortality remained unchanged and mortality from neoplasms increased among women. © 2013 Forssas et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.