Colorectal cancer and liver cancer are the second and fifth most common cancers in Hong Kong, respectively, and both are associated with notably high mortality rates. This underscores the urgent need to develop effective strategies to combat these formidable diseases. A joint research team from the Department of Medicine and the Department of Clinical Oncology, both under the School of Clinical Medicine in the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), conducted two territory-wide studies using data from the Hospital Authority, spanning up to 17 years, to identify over 140,000 patients with diabetes.
The results revealed that optimal control of diabetes significantly reduced the risk of colorectal and liver cancer by 28% and 30%, respectively. The findings indicate that stringent diabetes management is an effective oncopreventive strategy for colorectal and liver cancer. The findings are considered clinically significant and have gained attention from the medical sector worldwide.
The results were published in the journals Gut and Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics . Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a known risk factor for doubling the risk of developing colorectal and liver cancer. As the prevalence of DM is increasing at an alarming rate globally, soaring from 148.
5 million in 1990 to 437.9 million in 2019, the number of diabetic patients at risk for these cancers is expected to increase further. While better control of diabetes has been proven effective .