Evaluation of the Association between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at First Pregnancy and Cancer within 10 Years Postpartum Using National Health Insurance Data in South Korea

Kyu-Tae Han, Geum Joon Cho and Eui Hyeok Kim
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Kyu-Tae Han: Research and Analysis Team, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang 10444, Korea
Geum Joon Cho: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 08308, Korea
Eui Hyeok Kim: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang 10444, Korea

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-9

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the association between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) at first pregnancy and the incidence of cancer within 10 years postpartum. We used customized health information data from the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC). This retrospective cohort study included data from women who were not previously diagnosed with diabetes or any kind of malignancy in the National Health Screening Examination through the NHIC during 2002–2003, and only women who had their first delivery between 2004 and 2005 was included. Follow-up cancer diagnosis was carried out up until 2015. Among the 102,900 primiparous women, 4970 (4.83%) were diagnosed with GDM. During 10 year total follow-up period, 6569 (6.38%) cases of primary cancer were identified. The incidence of cancer was higher in women with GDM and the most common type of cancer was thyroid cancer, followed by breast cancer. On the basis of survival analysis, we adopted the Cox proportional hazards model and found that GDM was positively associated with cancer, particularly in thyroid cancer (HR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.054–1.532, p = 0.012). However, the incidence of other malignancies (including ovarian and breast cancers) were not significantly associated with GDM, though they did show positive trends. Our findings suggest that GDM is associated with the incidence of cancer, particular thyroid cancer.

Keywords: gestational diabetes mellitus; diabetes mellitus; cancer; thyroid cancer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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