According to Dr. Fredrick Brancati of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, cancer the world’s number 2 killer is even more lethal for patients with diabetes. Patients with diabetes who get cancer are about 40 % more likely to die in the years following the diagnosis of cancer than patients who do not have diabetes.

The findings suggest that patients with diabetes who are diagnosed with cancer need to get their blood glucose levels under control to improve their chances of surviving the cancer.

Brancati and his colleagues combined the results of 23 studies involving 125,000 patients in 10 countries. The studies showed a 76% higher risk of death for women with cancer of the uterus and a 61% higher risk of death for breast cancer for patients with diabetes. Patients with diabetes also had a 32% higher risk of death for colorectal cancer.

-drhinkes