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BANFF, ALTA. — Patients with diabetes appear to be at higher risk of developing colon polyps than are nondiabetics, according to the results of a case control study.
In the chart review of 305 people who had received a colonoscopy, those in whom adenomas and/or carcinomas were detected had seven times the odds of being diabetic, compared with patients without those lesions.
On the basis of these findings, Dr. Nitasha Anand recommended that diabetic patients undergo earlier or more frequent colon screening than patients without diabetes. However, she pointed out that the study's several confounders made it difficult to draw definite conclusions.
“Insulin is a growth factor for epithelium in the colon,” Dr. Anand said at the Canadian Digestive Diseases Week. “So we were wondering whether people with higher insulin levels in the blood would have more polyps in the colon than the average person.” Previous studies have found a slightly increased risk of colon polyps in diabetic patients, with odds ratios from 1.2 to 1.3, said Dr. Anand of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
Of the 305 charts eligible for analysis, 40 were from patients with diabetes. Controls comprised the first 265 consecutive patients without diabetes.
Three diabetic patients had neoplasms, as did three controls. The odds ratio for patients with diabetes having adenomas and/or carcinomas was 7.4, compared with nondiabetic patients.
“There are several of limitations to this study,” Dr. Anand said in an interview. “It's retrospective, which comes with its own host of issues. In addition, if it's not charted, we had no way of knowing if a patient was diabetic or not.” In addition, the diabetic patients were older than their counterparts in the control group (mean age 64 vs. 58 years, respectively), she said.
CDDW is sponsored by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver. Dr. Anand had no financial interests to disclose regarding the study.
BANFF, ALTA. — Patients with diabetes appear to be at higher risk of developing colon polyps than are nondiabetics, according to the results of a case control study.
In the chart review of 305 people who had received a colonoscopy, those in whom adenomas and/or carcinomas were detected had seven times the odds of being diabetic, compared with patients without those lesions.
On the basis of these findings, Dr. Nitasha Anand recommended that diabetic patients undergo earlier or more frequent colon screening than patients without diabetes. However, she pointed out that the study's several confounders made it difficult to draw definite conclusions.
“Insulin is a growth factor for epithelium in the colon,” Dr. Anand said at the Canadian Digestive Diseases Week. “So we were wondering whether people with higher insulin levels in the blood would have more polyps in the colon than the average person.” Previous studies have found a slightly increased risk of colon polyps in diabetic patients, with odds ratios from 1.2 to 1.3, said Dr. Anand of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
Of the 305 charts eligible for analysis, 40 were from patients with diabetes. Controls comprised the first 265 consecutive patients without diabetes.
Three diabetic patients had neoplasms, as did three controls. The odds ratio for patients with diabetes having adenomas and/or carcinomas was 7.4, compared with nondiabetic patients.
“There are several of limitations to this study,” Dr. Anand said in an interview. “It's retrospective, which comes with its own host of issues. In addition, if it's not charted, we had no way of knowing if a patient was diabetic or not.” In addition, the diabetic patients were older than their counterparts in the control group (mean age 64 vs. 58 years, respectively), she said.
CDDW is sponsored by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver. Dr. Anand had no financial interests to disclose regarding the study.
BANFF, ALTA. — Patients with diabetes appear to be at higher risk of developing colon polyps than are nondiabetics, according to the results of a case control study.
In the chart review of 305 people who had received a colonoscopy, those in whom adenomas and/or carcinomas were detected had seven times the odds of being diabetic, compared with patients without those lesions.
On the basis of these findings, Dr. Nitasha Anand recommended that diabetic patients undergo earlier or more frequent colon screening than patients without diabetes. However, she pointed out that the study's several confounders made it difficult to draw definite conclusions.
“Insulin is a growth factor for epithelium in the colon,” Dr. Anand said at the Canadian Digestive Diseases Week. “So we were wondering whether people with higher insulin levels in the blood would have more polyps in the colon than the average person.” Previous studies have found a slightly increased risk of colon polyps in diabetic patients, with odds ratios from 1.2 to 1.3, said Dr. Anand of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
Of the 305 charts eligible for analysis, 40 were from patients with diabetes. Controls comprised the first 265 consecutive patients without diabetes.
Three diabetic patients had neoplasms, as did three controls. The odds ratio for patients with diabetes having adenomas and/or carcinomas was 7.4, compared with nondiabetic patients.
“There are several of limitations to this study,” Dr. Anand said in an interview. “It's retrospective, which comes with its own host of issues. In addition, if it's not charted, we had no way of knowing if a patient was diabetic or not.” In addition, the diabetic patients were older than their counterparts in the control group (mean age 64 vs. 58 years, respectively), she said.
CDDW is sponsored by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver. Dr. Anand had no financial interests to disclose regarding the study.