- The top three researches cover the area of endocrine, nutrition, and metabolic diseases with 10 articles, the area of factors of influencing health and health-care providing services with 8 articles, and the area of diseases, symptoms, and clinic and experimental illness discoveries with 7 articles, which were publicized by “The Journal of Cancer Medicine” and “BMC Women's Health”, and “The Lancet Healthy Longevity”.
- Selected Paper in October：Did people with diabetes coexisted with depression had higher risk of cancer?
Diabetes and depression are both gradually increasing chronic conditions. Previous research has indicated that individuals with diabetes or depression each have a higher risk of developing cancer. However, the specific cancer risk for individuals with both diabetes and depression has not been thoroughly investigated. The Center for Geriatrics and Health Management at the National Health Research Institutes, along with the research team from the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch, utilized health insurance claims data from 2001 to 2012. They identified 85,489 individuals newly diagnosed with both diabetes and depression and compared them with 427,445 individuals newly diagnosed with diabetes but without depression, tracking them for 6.5 years to explore this issue.
The result showed that individuals with both diabetes and depression had a slightly elevated risk of developing cancer, with a risk ratio of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.05 to 1.11). Sites with higher cancer risk included cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, liver, prostate, kidney, and hematological malignancies. The risk was higher for individuals with severe depression and a higher frequency of episodes, particularly in the younger population. Medication adherence did not show a significant correlation with cancer risk.
The authors remind that the study has some limitations. First, some cases of depression may not have been diagnosed, leading to potential misclassification into the control group and underestimating the risk. Second, regarding medication analysis, using health insurance claims data only indicates whether prescriptions were filled, without confirming actual medication adherence. Third, the study could not further explore the impact of specific medications for diabetes and depression.
Highlight of OCT (2023) ：This month's primary research focuses on the explores the risk caused by diabetes comorbid with depression and cancer, the connection between domestic violence and pregnancy in Taiwan, and the degree of infection and death of the elders in Taiwan.
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