Abstract:
Objective To investigate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and high-sen-sitivity C‑reactive protein (Hs‑CRP) on the risk of digestive system malignancy.
Methods The pro-spective cohort study was conducted. The clinical data of 93 928 participants who participated health examination in 9 hospitals at Tangshan, including Kailuan General Hospital Affiliated to North China University of Science and Technology et al, in 2006 were selected. According to the presence or absence of DM and the level of Hs‑CRP, all participants were divided into 4 groups, including the DM(-)CRP(-) group defined as absence of DM and Hs‑CRP ≤3 mg/L, the DM(-)CRP(+) group defined as absence of DM and Hs‑CRP>3 mg/L, the DM(+)CRP(-) group defined as presence of DM and Hs‑CRP ≤3 mg/L, and the DM(+)CRP(+) group defined as presence of DM and Hs‑CRP >3 mg/L. The data of participants were collected by a fixed team of physicians. The first physical examination in 2006 was taken as the starting point for follow‑up. The end event of follow‑up was defined as the occurrence of digestive system malignancy or death, and the follow-up was up to December 31, 2021. Observation indicators: (1) comparison of clinical data among the 4 groups of participants; (2) the incidence and cumulative incidence rate of digestive system malignancy in participants; (3) influence of DM and Hs‑CRP level on the risk of digestive system malignancy; (4) the combined influence of DM and Hs‑CRP level on the risk of digestive system malignancy; (5) sensitivity analysis. Comparison of measurement data with normal distribution among multiple groups was conducted using the one‑way analysis of variance. For pairwise comparison, least significant difference test was used for homogeneity of variance, and Dunnett′s T3 test was used for heterogeneity of variance. Comparison of measurement data with skewed distribution among multiple groups was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, and Dunn‑Bonferroni test was used for pairwise comparison. Comparison of count data among multiple groups was conducted using the chi‑square test, and Bonferroni test was used among multiple comparisons. The Kaplan‑Meier method was used to plot cumulative incidence curve, and Log⁃rank test was used for cumulative incidence rate analysis. The Cox proportional risk model was used for multivariate analysis. All models were adjusted for relevant confounders.
Results (1) Comparison of clinical data among the 4 groups of participants. Of the 93 928 participants, there were 70 743 cases in the DM(-)CRP(-) group, 14 644 cases in the DM(-)CRP(+) group, 6 425 cases in the DM(+)CRP(-) group, and 2 116 cases in the DM(+)CRP(+) group. There were significant differences in gender, age, fasting blood glucose, Hs‑CRP, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase, body mass index, marrital status, smoking, drinking, high school degree or above, physical exercise, high salt diet, high fat diet, positive hepatitis B virus surface antigen, fatty liver, liver cirrhosis, gallstone, taking hypoglycemic drugs, taking lipid‑lowering drugs among the 4 groups of participants (P<0.05). (2) The incidence and cumulative incidence rate of digestive system malignancy in participants. At the end-up of follow‑up, 2 008 cases developed digestive system malignancy in the 93 928 participants, including 717 cases of colorectal cancer, 456 cases of liver cancer, 396 cases of gastric cancer, 195 cases of esophageal cancer, 144 cases of pancreatic cancer, 65 cases of gallbladder cancer or extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 35 cases of small bowel cancer. The cumulative incidence rates of digestive system malignancy were 2.19%, 2.42%, 2.86%, 3.59% in participants of the DM(-)CRP(-) group, DM(-)CRP(+) group, DM(+)CRP(-) group, DM(+)CRP(+) group, respectively, showing a significant difference among the 4 groups (χ²=31.72, P<0.05). (3) Influence of DM and Hs‑CRP level on the risk of digestive system malignancy. After adjusting for the confounding factors of the participants, results of multivariate analysis showed that DM and Hs‑CRP >3 mg/L were independent influencing factors for the incidence of digestive system malignancy (hazard ratio=1.32, 1.19, 95% confidence interval as 1.13-1.56, 1.06-1.33, P<0.05). Futher analysis showed that there was a significant difference in interaction between DM and Hs‑CRP >3 mg/L (P<0.05). (4) The combined influence of DM and Hs‑CRP level on the risk of digestive system malign-ancy. After adjusting for confounding factors, results of multivariate analysis showed that using the DM(-)CRP(-) group as the control group, the risk of incidence of digestive system malignancy increased in the DM(-)CRP(+) group, DM(+)CRP(-) group, and DM(+)CRP(+) group, respectively (hazard ratio=1.14, 1.23, 1.79, 95% confidence interval as 1.01-1.29, 1.02-1.48, 1.38-2.31, P<0.05). In the site‑specific analysis of digestive system malignancy, using the DM(-)CRP(-) group as the control group, the risk of incidence of liver cancer increased in the DM(-)CRP(+) group (hazard ratio=1.37, 95% confidence interval as 1.07-1.75, P<0.05), the risk of incidence of liver cancer and pancrea-tic cancer increased in the DM(+)CRP(-) group (hazard ratio=1.60, 1.74, 95% confidence interval as 1.16-2.21, 1.00-3.02, P<0.05), the risk of incidence of small bowel cancer, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer increased in the DM(+)CRP(+) group (hazard ratio=5.05, 2.31, 2.23, 95% confidence interval as 1.57-16.21, 1.00-5.31, 1.54-3.24, P<0.05). (5) Sensitivity analysis. After adjusting for confounding factors of excluding 3 types of participants (103 cases of digestive system malignancy within 1 year of follow‑up, 2 370 cases of taking glucose‑lowering drugs, and 915 cases of taking lipid‑lowering drugs), results of multivariate analysis showed that using the DM(-)CRP(-) group as the control group, the risk of incidence of digestive system malignancy increased in the DM(+)CRP(-) group, and DM(+)CRP(+) group, respectively (hazard ratioexcluding cases of digestive system malignancy within 1 year of follow-up=1.26, 1.66, 95% confidence interval as 1.04-1.52, 1.26-2.18, P<0.05; hazard ratioexcluding cases taking glucose-lowering drugs=1.23, 1.75, 95% confidence interval as 1.02-1.49, 1.31-2.33, P<0.05; hazard ratioexcluding cases taking lipid-lowering drugs=1.24, 1.80, 95% confidence interval as 1.03-1.49, 1.39-2.34, P<0.05).
Conclusions DM and Hs‑CRP >3 mg/L are independent influencing factors for the incidence of digestive system malignancy. There is an interation and synergistic effect between DM and Hs-CRP to promote the incidence of digestive system malignancy.