Fructosamine and diabetes as predictors of mortality among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors
Fructosamine and diabetes as predictors of mortality among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors, Published online: 07 January 2019; doi:10.1038/s41523-018-0099-x
Diabetes and poor blood sugar control significantly increase a woman’s odds of dying from invasive breast cancer. A team led by Avonne Connor from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, tracked the fate of 399 survivors of breast cancer, 96 of whom were Hispanic, an underrepresented ethnicity in many biomedical studies. After a median follow-up of 13 years, the researchers found that women with diabetes had a nearly 3-fold higher risk of dying from their breast cancer and more than a two-fold greater risk for all-cause mortality. Poor glycemic control, as measured by elevated levels of a common blood biomarker called fructosamine, explained a large extent of the relationship between diabetes and cancer-linked mortality, especially among Hispanic women. The findings suggest that better glucose management could improve outcomes for breast cancer survivors with diabetes.