Incidence of type 2 diabetes among oral cancer patients in Hungary

Introduction: Data proves that Hungary has a leading role in the statistics of oral cancer and patients living with type 2 diabetes. Aim: Our aim was to understand the statistical correlation between oral cancer and metabolic disorder (diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose) due to the valuable data from the Semmelweis University. Method: We analyzed the data of 835 patients diagnosed with malignant oral cancer and 587 tumor-free control patients. We investigated the incidence and location of oral cancer among patients living with diabetes, and compared these datasets with our previous data from 14 years earlier. Results: We found that in oral cancer patients, 26.1% had diabetes and 20.8% had impaired fasting glucose; in the control group these ratios were 10.8% and 11.1%. This difference is significant (p< 0.05). 14 years ago in the tumor group 14.6%, in the control group 5.6% had diabetes, while 9.7% and 5.5% had impaired fasting glucose. Lip cancer had the biggest incidence. Conclusions: The rise of type 2 diabetes in the tumor group was significant. This could be a burden for the health care system. We want to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation between health care professionals.