Diabetes Adversely Affects Breast Cancer Outcomes

Women with diabetes have higher breast-cancer–related mortality than do women without diabetes, possibly because of delays in diagnosis, less-common use of adjuvant therapy, and diabetes-related comorbidities. Now, researchers have conducted a prospective cohort study and a meta-analysis to distinguish among these and other factors that influence breast cancer outcomes in women with diabetes.

In the first report, investigators assessed baseline blood samples from the Women's Healthy Eating and Living Study, in which breast cancer survivors were followed. Among 3003 women whose glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) levels were measured, 6% had levels ≥6.5% (diagnostic for chronic hyperglycemia). At a median follow-up of 7.3 years, 503 women experie…