Dr. Anastassios G. Pittas and colleagues point out in their recent report in the medical journal Diabetes Care that more cases of blood cancers classified as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or NHL seem to occur among people with diabetes than those without diabetes.

Pittas, at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and his team found 16 previous studies reporting association between diabetes and NHL. Combined data from all the studies showed that the likelihood of developing NHL was 19% higher for patients with diabetes.

The researchers point out that the incidence of NHL has increased since 1950. They believe the immune changes associated with diabetes “may, at least in part, account for the increased risk of NHL that we found in this study.”

-drhinkes