New study links diabetes with type of liver cancer

A new study has found a link between diabetes and an increased risk for developing a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

V Wendy Setiawan, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, said people with diabetes had a two-to-threefold higher risk for hepatocellular carcinoma as against those without diabetes.

She said the researchers also found that the interethnic differences in the prevalence of diabetes were consistent with the pattern of hepatocellular carcinoma incidence observed across ethnicities: Ethnic groups with a high prevalence of diabetes also had high hepatocellular carcinoma rates, and those with a lower prevalence of diabetes had lower hepatocellular carcinoma rates.

Setiawan and colleagues examined whether the association between diabetes and hepatocellular carcinoma differed by race or ethnic group. They analysed data from over 150,000 people enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort Study between 1993 and 1996.

Compared with non-Hispanic whites, Latinos ran a 2.77 times higher risk for being diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, the highest risk identified, with native Hawaiians having 2.48 times the risk. African-Americans came in at 2.16; and Japanese-Americans at 2.07.

The US had seen the number of new hepatocellular carcinoma cases triple in the past three decades, with Latinos and African-Americans experiencing the highest increase in incidence. There had been suggestions earlier that diabetes might be a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma, and its increasing incidence might be due in part to rising rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.

According to Setiawan, people with diabetes needed to be aware that their condition was associated with a higher risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. She said maintaining a healthy weight, managing their diabetes, preventing and treating hepatitis infection, and limiting alcohol and tobacco use should be in their priority to-do list.

Additionally, Setiawan said that public health efforts aimed at obesity/diabetes prevention and effective diabetes management needed to be directed at high-risk populations.

The researchers examined whether the association between diabetes and hepatocellular carcinoma differed by race/ethnic group, analysing data from over 150,000 people enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort Study between 1993 and 1996.

In the study follow-up period spanning 15 years, 506 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma were reported: 59 cases in non-Hispanic whites, 81 in African-Americans, 33 in Hawaiians, 158 in Japanese-Americans, and 175 in Latinos.