Incidence of Hyperglycemia/Secondary Diabetes in Women who have Undergone Curative Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: First Study from India

Purpose Development of cancer chemotherapy treatment-induced hyperglycemia/ diabetes (secondary diabetes) is a major problem and has never been reported from India. The present study was planned to ascertain this in women undergoing curative chemotherapy for their breast cancer. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective chart-based study and was conducted in a cancer specialty hospital. The information on women who were nondiabetic at the start of the treatment was collected from the files. Details on cancer diagnosis, domicile, body mass index (BMI), type of diet, marital status, number of children, and previous history of diabetes if any were considered. The blood glucose levels before surgery and after the completion of radiotherapy were considered. World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for diabetes were considered. The data were subjected to frequency and percentage and analyzed using Chi-square test. Association between the demographic details and development of Hyperglycemia or secondary diabetes or prediabetes was done using the Pearson’s correlation analysis. p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results A total of 474 cases were included in accordance with the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that by the end of the radiation treatment, 24.89% were prediabetic, 10.97% were diabetic after being in prediabetic stage, 8.22% became diabetic without going through a prediabetic stage, and that 55.91% did not develop either prediabetic or diabetic condition. Analysis of development of secondary diabetes and prediabetes with BMI ( p < 0.0001) and age ( p < 0.024) showed a strong correlation and was significant. Conclusion To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study from India, and the results indicate that the development of secondary diabetes in women undergoing curative chemotherapy is high. Attempts are underway to ascertain the cause for the development and how it can be mitigated.