The inverse association between fasting blood glucose and the occurrence of gallbladder cancer in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a case–control study

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology Vol. 149; no. 12; pp. 10387 - 10398
• Main Authors: Sheng, Bin-Wu, Zhang, Jian-Qin, Chen, Min, Ma, Mao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.09.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Blood glucose; Body mass index; Cancer Research; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Epidemiology; Fasting; Fatty liver; Gallbladder cancer; Glucose; Hematology; High density lipoprotein; Homeostasis; Insulin resistance; Internal Medicine; Laboratory testing; Liver diseases; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Multivariate analysis; Oncology; Patients; Regression analysis; Retinol-binding protein; Vitamin A; Insulin resistance; Fasting blood glucose; Diabetes mellitus; Gallbladder cancer
• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-023-04944-3
• ISSN: 0171-5216

Objective This study aimed to explore the correlation between diabetes mellitus (DM) and gallbladder cancer (GBC) in an epidemiological setting. Methods The study summarized the clinical and laboratory data of 2210 GBC Chinese patients in the authors’ hospital. A total of 17 influencing factors for GBC, including gender, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), and lipid indexes were analyzed using unconditional logistic regression analysis. Results Based on the results of univariate logistic regression, the risk of GBC was significantly and positively correlated with serum triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, FINS, HOMA-IR, being female, BMI, DM, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and gallbladder stone disease (GSD), and significantly negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein and FBG concentrations in serum, as well as hypertension. According to multivariate analysis, FINS was significantly positively associated with GBC risk, while DM showed an insignificant negative association; FBG was also not important. The most significant independent factor of GBC risk in patients with DM was HOMA-IR. Fasting blood glucose levels showed a significant negative relationship with GBC in patients with DM. In addition, this study indicated a significantly negative association between serum RBP levels and GBC. Conclusions The findings of the current study revealed that the efficient treatment of insulin resistance is an important approach for decreasing GBC risk, as opposed to lowering blood sugar only, particularly in patients with DM. Interestingly, FBG may have had an inverse association with the development of GBC in patients with type 2 DM. Of note, the study found that a dramatic initial drop in RBP may help predict the occurrence of GBC.