Diabetes and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: analyses of prevalence and annual incidence in 2005 using the National Health Insurance database in Taiwan

Abstract

The association between diabetes and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is rarely studied and the risk associated with insulin use is not known. The crude and age-standardized trends of NHL incidence in the general population from 1979 to 2007 were first calculated. NHL prevalence and annual incidence in 2005 were calculated in 329,198 insurants aged≥45 years from a random sample of 1,000,000 insurants of the National Health Insurance. The risk factors were evaluated using logistic regression. NHL incidence trends increased significantly in either sex. A total of 1079 and 148 NHL cases were identified for prevalence and incidence analyses, respectively. The respective prevalence (per 100,000) for diabetic and nondiabetic subjects was 480.2 and 269.9 (P<0.01), and the respective incidence (per 100,000) was 70.9 and 35.3 (P<0.01). Odds ratio for diabetic versus nondiabetic subjects after adjustment for age, sex, occupation, and living region was 1.51 (95% confidence interval 1.33-1.71) for prevalence and 1.48 (1.06-2.06) for incidence. In diabetic patients, the adjusted odds ratio for insulin users versus nonusers was 1.63 (1.23-2.15) for prevalence and 2.52 (1.37-4.64) for incidence. NHL incidence is increasing in Taiwan. Diabetes and insulin use are associated with a higher risk.