Journal: Asia-Pacific journal of public health
The study is a nationwide Korean cohort analysis of 65,982 breast cancer survivors compared with 168,214 age-matched controls. It evaluates when diabetes develops after breast cancer and which factors increase risk, with results stratified by age (≤50 vs >50 years).
Key findings:
- Highest diabetes risk occurs in the first year after breast cancer diagnosis for both age groups:
- ≤50 years: sub-distribution hazard ratio (sHR) 3.74 (95% CI 3.08–4.55)
- >50 years: sHR 1.71 (95% CI 1.52–1.93)
Risk declined after the first year.
- Across survivors, higher diabetes risk was associated with:
- Elevated body mass index
- Smoking
- Hypertension
- Dyslipidemia
- Taxane-based chemotherapy
- In younger women (≤50 years), tamoxifen use was an additional independent risk factor for diabetes (sHR 1.22; 95% CI 1.06–1.40).
Clinical implication:
Breast cancer survivors—particularly younger women and those with metabolic comorbidities or taxane/tamoxifen exposure—have their greatest diabetes risk in the first year after diagnosis. The authors emphasize proactive, early metabolic monitoring and risk-factor management in this period.