Just a few months after Massachusetts General Hospital scientists found a link between metformin and the reduction of fibrosis and inflammation that are characteristics of the common form of pancreatic cancer, another study by scientists are Roswell Park Cancer Institute said the most popular diabetes medication decreases risk of cancer-related deaths.

The joint study by Roswell Park and University of Buffalo researchers used data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) which had post-menopausal women taking metformin long-term as study participants. The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, found the higher cancer risk of diabetic women after analysed information from more than 145,000 post-menopausal women.

The women were between 50 and 79 years old from 40 clinical centres in the US who took part in the WHI between 1993 and 1998. The study found that diabetic women had a 45 percent risk of death from invasive cancer compared to those without the chronic ailment. However, cancer death risk reduced significantly for women who had been taking metformin.

Diabetic women had a 13 percent higher risk of developing invasive cancer. Cancer risk for colon, liver, pancreas, endometrial and non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk ranges from 20 percent to almost double for diabetic women. But those taking metformin had better survival rates for those with ovarian, colorectal and breast cancer.

“Our findings from this large study may provide more evidence that postmenopausal women with diabetes and cancer may benefit from metformin compared to other anti-diabetes therapies, i4u quotes Zhihong Cong, professor at Roswell Park.

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