BMJ open diabetes research & care

Link between diabetes treatments that affect digestion hormones and thyroid cancer in US Medicare patients

Updated

Abstract

Essence

Among older US adults with type 2 diabetes, starting incretin-based therapy was not associated with higher 3-year risk than starting SGLT-2 inhibitors.

Evidence

A weighted Medicare new-user cohort compared 73,388 GLP-1RA users and 106,274 DPP-4 inhibitor users with SGLT-2 inhibitor users, finding adjusted 3-year risk differences of -23 and -2 thyroid cancer cases per 10,000, respectively, with confidence intervals crossing zero.

Caveat

Median treatment lasted only 0.82-1.15 years, so the study offers short-term reassurance but cannot rule out long-term or subtype-specific thyroid cancer risks.

Simplified

Key numbers

-23 per 10 000
Adjusted 3-Year for vs.
Adjusted cumulative incidence difference for
-2 per 10 000
Adjusted 3-Year for vs.
Adjusted cumulative incidence difference for

Full Text

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