Medication used to control our diabetes has been shown to raise the risk of a specific kind of cancer, so is it time to swap drugs? The University of Alberta research looked into the rates of bladder cancer in millions of people taking medicine pioglitazone, with concerning results.
Controlling blood sugar
When we have type 2 diabetes our bodies don’t process insulin properly, making the blood sugar rise. Over time this can cause severe wellness issues, so when we’re diagnosed with the condition GPs usually give us medication to moderate blood sugar levels. Some of us can use our diets to do this, but we may also be prescribed pioglitazone.
What does the drug do?
This medication makes our body more sensitive to the insulin in our blood so we process sugar better. But scientists recently looked at cancer rates in people who have taken the drug. Our wellbeing can be affected in lots of different ways by type 2 diabetes and increased risks of the disease is one of them. This fact motivated clinicians to review patient data from 2.6 million people to see if use of the medicine further increased cancer risk.
What they found
After reviewing patient files, the researchers found a link between the medication and an increase in the chances of having bladder cancer. They also looked at rates of the disease when patients took a different drug, called rosiglitazone. For this medication there did not appear to be the same link between the drug and bladder cancer. The scientists working on the study explained that the risks of getting the disease while also taking pioglitazone was small. They added that if there are other drug therapies that work well but don’t carry the same connection with bladder cancer then this may prove better for our wellness. Our doctor can offer more information on type 2 diabetes if we become concerned about medicine side effects.
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