A recent study has revealed that as many as 6% of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy with dexamethasone develop new-onset diabetes, and the risk is evident in men with impaired fasting glucose (IFG).
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What is Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG)?
Impaired fasting glucose or
also referred to as impaired fasting glycemia, can also be considered as
pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. IFG happens when blood glucose levels in
the body are elevated during periods of fasting, although not enough to trigger
a diagnosis of diabetes.
A person with impaired fasting glucose is not able to
process glucose as efficiently as they should be able to in a healthy body.
A multicenter group study involved 299 diabetes-free
patients with breast or colorectal cancer with average age of >18 years and
scheduled to undergo 4 – 8 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. The endpoints were
the incidence, remission rate, and independent determinants of new-onset
diabetes during chemotherapy.
There were 270 patients with average age of 51 years who
completed the follow up (average, 39 months). Seventeen patients (6.3%)
developed diabetes within an average of 90 days after the initiation of
treatment.
New-onset diabetes risk was about 15 times higher
among men vs women and 8 times greater among those with impaired fasting
glucose (IFG) at baseline.
Diabetes remission occurred in 11 out of 17 patients
(64.7%), six months after the patients completed the chemotherapy. Remission was
correlated with a significantly higher C-peptide level at baseline.
The findings, however, underscore the significance of
close monitoring of hyperglycemia in cancer patients on chemotherapy with
steroids, especially in men with impaired fasting glucose (IFG).
For complete details of the study, click here.
Source: Diabetes Res Clin
Pract 2021;doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2021.108751