Metformin and statin use have been associated with an improved prognosis for colorectal cancer in persons with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Data regarding rectal cancer (RC) have been inconclusive; therefore, we investigated the issue with high-quality data and a robust study design. We identified 1271 eligible patients with T2D and incident RC between 1998 and 2011 from the Diabetes in Finland (FinDM) database. Cox models were fitted for cause-specific mortality rates to obtain adjusted estimates of the hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) in relation to use of antidiabetic medication (ADM) and statins before the RC diagnosis and for post-diagnostic use in a time-dependent exposure manner. No sufficient evidence was found for either pre- or post-diagnostic metformin use and RC mortality (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.67-1.38, and 0.70, 95% CI 0.45-1.10, respectively) when compared to other oral ADMs. Both pre- and post-diagnostic statin use appeared to be inversely associated with mortality from RC (HR 0.77 95% CI 0.63-0.94, and 0.57, 95% CI 0.42-0.78, respectively). Our study was inconclusive as to the association of metformin use with the prognosis of RC, but statin use was found to predict reduced mortality, both from RC and from other causes of death in persons with T2D.
Keywords: cancer; cohort; diabetes; insulin; metformin; prognosis; rectal; statins.