Background: High fasting glucose has been indicated in relation to a higher risk of gastric cancer, but the majority of studies have focused on diabetes (fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL). Here, we investigated whether fasting glucose levels, including prediabetic and diabetic levels, influence gastric cancer incidence.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted with 41,837 participants aged 16 and older who underwent health examinations at the National Cancer Center in South Korea from August 2002 to December 2014. Participants were followed up until December 2017 to identify incident gastric cancer cases. A fasting glucose test was performed based on venous blood samples taken from participants after 8 hours of fasting. We used the Cox proportional hazards regression model to explore the association of fasting glucose levels with gastric cancer incidence.
Results: We identified 263 incident gastric cancer cases during the follow-up period. A significant association of high fasting glucose with gastric cancer incidence was found for postmenopausal women [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.88; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.11-3.20]. There was also a significant association between high fasting glucose and gastric cancer incidence among all participants who were nonsmokers (HR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.21-2.95), had a BMI < 25 kg/m2 (HR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.00-2.12), and did not have a first-degree family history of gastric cancer (HR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.06-1.99).
Conclusions: Our findings support that high fasting glucose is a risk factor for gastric cancer development in postmenopausal women.
Impact: Our results provide evidence for future planning and management regarding cancer prevention.
©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.