Diabetes and the risk of biochemical recurrence in patients with treated localized prostate cancer: a meta-analysis.

Background: Biochemical recurrence (BCR), or an elevation in prostate-specific antigen in men after treatment for localized prostate cancer, is an early indication of clinical progression, distant metastases, and mortality. Correlations have also recently been established between diabetes and the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer. However, it remains unknown whether diabetes may predict BCR.

Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of published articles to investigate the prognostic value of diabetes for BCR in prostate cancer. Eight studies and 11,923 patients were included in our meta-analysis. The relative risk (RR) and its 95 % confidence interval (CI) were calculated.

Results: We found no apparent association between diabetes and BCR (adjusted RR 1.04; 95 % CI 0.87-1.22).

Conclusions: The evidence of this meta-analysis indicates that diabetes is not a predictor of risk of BCR in patients with prostate cancer.