Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22528451›Full record

SynthesisHormones & cancer2012

Systematic review and meta-analysis of insulin therapy and risk of cancer.

Mohsen Janghorbani, Mohsen Dehghani, Mohammad Salehi-Marzijarani

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Hormones & cancer, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
5.6field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Clinical Practice Guideline: Developing a Diabetes Mellitus Comprehensive Care Plan-2022 Update.Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists · 2022
    Guideline
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Potential increased risk of cancer from commonly used medications: an umbrella review of meta-analyses.Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology · 2014
    Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. CDC42 Regulatory Patterns Related To Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Hyperglycemia.Journal of bioinformatics and systems biology : Open access · 2025
    Article
  11. Associations between Diabetes Mellitus and Selected Cancers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Metformin and blood cancers.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2018
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Mohsen JanghorbaniDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. janghorbani@hlth.mui.ac.ir
Mohsen Dehghani
Mohammad Salehi-Marzijarani
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences · IR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent epidemiological studies suggest that treatment with insulin may promote cancer growth. The present systematic review and meta-analysis of published observational studies was conducted to assess the risk of cancer during treatment with insulin. A search of online database through January 2011 was performed and examined the reference lists of pertinent articles, limited to observational studies in humans. Pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with a random-effects model. Fifteen studies (five case-control and ten cohort studies) were included, with 562,043 participants and 14,085 cases of cancer. Insulin treatment was associated with an increased risk of overall cancer [summary RR (95% CI)=1.39 (1.14, 1.70)]. Summary RR (9% CI) for case-control studies was 1.83 (0.99, 3.38), whereas RR for cohort studies was 1.28 (1.03, 1.59). These results were consistent between studies conducted in the USA and in Europe. For studies that included combined type 1 and 2 diabetes, the summary estimate was stronger than studies including only type 2 diabetes mellitus. The association between insulin treatment and cancer was stronger for pancreatic cancer [summary RR (95% CI)=4.78 (3.12, 7.32)] than for colorectal cancer [1.50 (1.08, 2.08)]. Insulin treatment was not associated with breast, prostate, and hepatocelluar cancer, and their effect estimates were not statistically significant. Our findings support an association between insulin use and increased risk of overall, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overCase-Control StudiesCell Growth ProcessesCohort StudiesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2FemaleHumansInsulinMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasmsRisk FactorsYoung AdultInsulin

Identifiers

PMID22528451
PMCPMC10358051
OpenAlexW1974472988

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.