Diabetologia

Glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs and stomach and intestine cancer risk in people with type 2 diabetes

Updated

Abstract

GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) use is associated with a significantly lower risk of overall gastrointestinal cancer compared to other glucose-lowering medications.

  • Compared to insulin, GLP-1RA users had an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.29 for overall gastrointestinal cancer, indicating a substantial risk reduction.
  • GLP-1RA use showed lower risk associations with specific cancer types compared to metformin (aHR 0.84), sulfonylureas (aHR 0.71), thiazolidinediones (aHR 0.86), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (aHR 0.80), and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (aHR 0.80).
  • The protective effect of GLP-1RAs was most pronounced when compared to insulin therapy.
  • The findings suggest that GLP-1RAs may offer cancer-protective benefits in addition to their established roles in managing diabetes and weight.

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Funding

Competing interests

Data availability: The data utilised in this study were obtained from the TriNetX Research Network, a global federated health research platform providing access to de-identified electronic medical records from participating healthcare organisations. Due to data use agreements and privacy regulations, the individual-level data are not publicly available. However, aggregated data supporting the findings of this study can be accessed through the TriNetX platform by qualified researchers upon reasonable request and subject to approval by TriNetX. Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Authors’ relationships and activities: The authors declare that there are no relationships or activities that might bias, or be perceived to bias, their work. Contribution statement: C-CK and C-CL conceived and designed the study. C-CK and C-CL performed the statistical analysis, prepared the first draft of the manuscript, and revised the draft. All authors contributed to the interpretation of data and critically revised the content of the draft. C-CK and H-TK supervised the study. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published. As such, they had full access to all data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. C-CL is the guarantor of this work.
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