Women with prediabetes are at increased risk for kidney cancer, study reveals

The study further stated that although women have a lower kidney cancer risk than men, women with even prediabetes are at increased risk. When monitoring for kidney complications, the authors suggest that the findings should not be overlooked.

Kidney cancer majorly affects men, indicating biological protection against kidney cancer in women. Therefore, Jung Yong Hong, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, and colleagues aimed to investigate the dose-response association between glycemic status and kidney cancer risk in men and women.

9,492,331 adults without cancer who underwent national health screening in 2009 were followed up until December 2018. The risk of kidney cancer was estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models following adjustments for potential confounders.

The study led to the following findings:

• During the 78.1 million person-years of follow-up, incident kidney cancer occurred in 8,834 men and 3,547 women.
• The male-to-female ratio of the incidence rate was 2.1:1 in never-smokers with normoglycemia (17.8 vs 8.5/100,000 person-years).
• Among never-smokers, men with diabetes, but not prediabetes, had an increased risk of kidney cancer (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.25), respectively.
• Among never-smokers, women with both diabetes and prediabetes had an increased risk (aHR 1.34, respectively).
• Among smokers, men and women with diabetes had 49%, and 85% increased kidney cancer risk (aHR 1.49 and 1.85), respectively.

"In women, glycemic cancer and kidney cancer risk exhibited a dose-response association, but in men diabetes, but not prediabetes, was linked with an increased risk in men," the researchers stated.

"Although women have a reduced kidney cancer risk than men, women with even prediabetes are at increased risk. These results should not be unnoticed when monitoring for kidney complications."

Reference:

Joo-Hyun Park, Jung Yong Hong, Kyungdo Han, Jay J. Shen; Association Between Glycemic Status and the Risk of Kidney Cancer in Men and Women: A Nationwide Cohort Study. Diabetes Care 2022; dc220961. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-0961