Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Other American studies fail to confirm an association.

Abstract

EDITOR,—Toshiki Natazuka and colleagues report an association between non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.1 They suggest that as diabetes mellitus impairs the immune response to infectious agents it might increase the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is associated with immunodeficiency states. By comparing the observed frequency of diabetes in a hospital case series with that expected on the basis of the prevalence of diabetes reported by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare the authors found a threefold excess in extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The risk of nodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was not significantly increased. We evaluated this association in data from two case-control …