Now, diabetes drug can elevate risk of bladder cancer

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: This comes as a news especially for all the diabetes patients that a drug used in the treatment of this disease can elevate the risk of bladder cancer.

The study further states that the risk increases with the rising duration of use and the dose.

Pioglitazone belongs to a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones and helps to control blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.

However, the findings of the study revealed that taking the drug increases risk of bladder cancer by 63 percent.

Canadian-based researchers examined the use of pioglitazone with other anti-diabetic drugs and found an increased association of risk of bladder cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The team analysed data for 145,806 patients from Britain's Clinical Practice Research Database (CPRD), who were newly treated with diabetes drugs between 2000 and 2013. 

Potential influential factors such as age, sex, duration of diabetes, smoking status and alcohol-related disorders, were also taken into account.

In contrast, the use of rosiglitazone was not associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer in any analysis, suggesting the risk is drug-specific and not a class effect.

(With IANS inputs)