Type 2 Diabetes - Do Antidiabetic Medications Help To Prevent and Treat Cervical Cancer?

Much has been written during the past few years about the antidiabetic medication; metformin as a possible anticancer drug. According to researchers at the National Taiwan University and several other research institutions in Taipei, Taiwan, metformin could be a tool to reduce the risk of cervical cancer.

Type 2 Diabetes - Do Antidiabetic Medications Help To Prevent and Treat Cervical Cancer?

Their work, reported on in the journal Oncotarget in July 2016, included...

·         over 132,000 women treated with metformin, and almost

·         7,000 treated with other antidiabetic medications.

Among the women treated with metformin, 0.33 percent developed cervical cancer, while 0.55 percent of the non-users developed the condition. The longer the women continued to be treated with metformin, the more their risk for this form of cancer lowered...

·         during the first 23 months of treatment, there was a 1.2 percent risk.

·         between 23 months and 48 months of treatment; there was a 0.52 percent risk.

·         over 48 months the risk was 0.11 percent.

From the above results, it was concluded the oral antidiabetic drug; metformin could help to reduce the potential for cervical cancer. The lowered risk is especially striking in women who used the medication for over two years.

Another 2016 article published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention, reported older women using metformin after being diagnosed with cervical cancer lived longer than females who had received treatment using other medications. Investigators at the University of Toronto and several other research institutions in Ontario, Canada, looked at...

·         181 women at least 66 years of age diagnosed with this form of cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

After nearly six years it was found the ladies taking the highest doses of metformin had the lowest risk of dying. The researchers suggested if more studies validated their work, this oral antidiabetic medication could have a place as an anticancer drug against cervical cancer.

Each year over 12,000 women in the United States alone are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and over 4,000 women die from the disease each year. The good news is most tumors can be prevented or found early with Papanicolaou testing and vaccinations for the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is strongly associated with cervical cancer, and hundreds of thousands of cases could be prevented worldwide if all girls were vaccinated...

·         girls should be vaccinated at age 12 or 13 before most girls become sexually active.

·         the Papanicolaou (Pap) test finds abnormal cells early so they can be carefully watched or removed. Schedules for when and how often to have Pap smears are often changed and refined, so check with your family doctor or gynecologist.

If cervical cancer is diagnosed early enough, it can be surgically cured.

Although managing your disease can be very challenging, Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can make simple changes to your daily routine and lower both your weight and your blood sugar levels. Hang in there, the longer you do it, the easier it gets.

By Beverleigh H Piepers 
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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