Mária Rašiová, Miriam Kozárová
Diabetes mellitus (DM) and malignant tumours are multifactorial, chronic diseases with increasing incidence and common risk factors. DM increases the risk of malignant tumours as well as mortality, while the pathophysiological mechanism is not clearly understood. Based on the meta-analyses, the type 2 DM (T2DM) doubles the risk of liver, pancreatic, and endometrial cancer, and the risk of colorectal and breast cancer by 1,2 to 1,5 times. The risk is higher for malignant tumours of kidney, bladder, oesophagus, gallbladder, biliary tract and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at DM2, but not all studies have demonstrated it convincingly. The risk of prostate and lung cancer is reduced in diabetics type DM2. In the type 1 DM (T1DM), the correlation of a higher incidence of malignancies is not so convincingly demonstrated and it may be related to the higher incidence of endometrial and stomach cancer. If diabetes is associated with even a slight increase in malignant tumours, in the context of its present pandemy in the population, an increased risk of carcinogenesis is clinically relevant.