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# Diabetes drug boosts bladder cancer risk
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/diabetes_bladder_cancer_0617121003/
- Published: 2012-06-17T11:02:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:15:14.000Z
- Description: A study on bmj.com followed 115,727 UK type 2 diabetes patients and found those who ever took pioglitazone were 83% more likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer, with rates reaching 137 per 100,000 person-years at doses above 28,000 mg. Rosiglitazone showed no increased risk.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PHD

Sunday June 17, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study published on bmj.com indicates taking a diabetes drug known as pioglitazone can increase the risk of bladder cancer.

The study shows that taking pioglitazone for more than two years doubled the risk of bladder cancer. That is, the risk of the cancer was increased to 137 cases per 100,000 person years, compared to 73 per person years for the general population in the UK.

No increased risk was found for another similar drug called rosiglitazone.

Both pioglitazone and rosiglitazone belong to a class of drugs known as thiazolidinediones indicated to control blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. 

Both drugs have been known to increase the risk of heart failure already.

For the current study, researchers in Canada analysed data from the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) involving 115,727 patients with diabetes type 2 mellitus who were newly treated with diabetes drugs from 1988 to 2009.

During the 4.6-year follow-up, 470 patients were diagnosed with bladder cancer. The rate was 89 per 100,000 person years, compared to 73 per 100,000 person years for the general population in the UK.

The researchers compared 376 cases of bladder cancer with 6,699 controls who did not have the disease and found diabetes patients who ever took pioglitazone were 83 percent more likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer, the rate was 74 per 100,000 person years.

Among diabetes patients who took the drug for two or more years, the risk for bladder cancer was increased to 88 per person years and when the total dose was more than 28,000 mg, the risk was increased to 137 per person years.

The authors conclude "provide evidence that pioglitazone is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer, whereas no increased risk was observed with the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone."

Another study led by Alka Kanaya, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and colleagues suggests that diabetes type 2 mellitus is very preventable.

The study showed people in poor urban neighbourhoods in the San Francisco Bay area cities who received the counselling on lifestyle and diabetes for six months lost more weight, consumed less fat, ate more fruit and vegetables and lowered blood triglycerides, a key risk measure for type 2 diabetes.

The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.