According to a report from Healio, a recent study evaluated the impact of diabetes on people living with multiple myeloma, a rare form of hematological cancer. The study indicated that diabetes had a detrimental effect on overall survival compared to patients without diabetes. The scientists also found that the effect varied depending on the patient’s racial background.
About the Study
This research was conducted by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the leadership of Urvi Shah, MD. The study was retrospective in nature and drew on data from 5,383 patients being treated for multiple myeloma at the center and at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. In the study, 15% of patients had diabetes, including 12% of patients with European ancestry and 25% of patients with African ancestry.
At a median follow-up duration of 4.2 years, the multivariate analysis revealed that patients with diabetes had worse overall survival than those without diabetes. This data was consistent with prior studies that found a similar connection. What came as a surprise was the difference in outcomes between the racial groups. White patients with diabetes had worse overall survival than Black patients with diabetes.
Another unexpected result was that obese Black patients had better overall survival than obese white patients. This was described as an association between elevated BMI and an increase in overall survival, but this benefit was not found in white patients. Older patients in the dataset also had decreased overall survival.
Future studies will focus on identifying potential therapies that could intervene in the overactive insulin pathway, which could contribute to not only diabetes but also multiple myeloma.
Check out the study abstract here.
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma, occasionally referred to as plasma cell myeloma, is a blood cancer that affects plasma cells, white blood cells that produce antibodies. The exact cause of multiple myeloma is not well understood, but some risk factors have been identified, including obesity, family history, smoldering myeloma, and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. These last two conditions have the potential to develop into multiple myeloma. Symptoms of this cancer include bone pain, infections, anemia, kidney failure, overly thick blood, confusion, fatigue, headaches, and amyloidosis. Treatment includes chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, and other medications for relapsed disease, which is common. The five-year survival rate in the US is 49 percent. To learn more about multiple myeloma, click here.
