Radiation Increases Risk Of Diabetes

According to a study released in the Archives of Internal Medicine, around 75% of survivors from childhood cancer develop chronic health conditions because of the therapies they received for the treatment of the disease.

As per the Science Daily report, people who suffered from cancer early in their age were treated with complete abdominal or body radiation, as a result of which, they have more risks of developing diabetes in their later age. However, the report does not indicate anything about the body mass index and physical activity level of the patient.

Because of the curative procedures they received in their childhood, the survivors have increased risks of mortality and morbidity.

According to the researchers Dr. Lilian R. Meacham from Emory University and AFLAC Cancer Center & Blood Services Disorders Service and his colleagues, the specific kind found in the study is Diabetes mellitus which is strongly related to the increased risks of all-cause death and cardiovascular diseases. It was also found in the study that 42.4% of the survivors of childhood cancer develop severe disabling and life threatening conditions after 30 years after the diagnosis. Cardiovascular diseases were found to be important causes of deaths in the group that was studied.

Researchers made a comparison of the occurrence of diabetes in 8599 survivors from childhood cancer who had a diagnosis before 21 years of age between 1970 and 1986. 2946 siblings of these survivors were also selected randomly who aged 31.5 and 33.4 years at the follow up studies.

Out of the cancer survivors, 2.5% were found to be suffering from diabetes while siblings reported only 1.7%. The authors of the study said that people who had undergone abdominal radiation were 2.7 times more likely to having diabetes mellitus than people who did not receive this treatment. People who had undergone complete body radiation were 7.2 times more likely to have diabetes mellitus.

It was also found that the survivors whose cancer was diagnosed before 5 years of age were 2.4 times more likely to have diabetes than people whose diagnoses was done from 15 to 20 years of age.