Introduction:

Diabetes mellitus and cancer are two health problems affecting the world population. Prior consideration of the risk for cancer development in patients with diabetes mellitus can contribute significantly to its prevention in this risk group.

Objective:

To describe the relationship between diabetes mellitus and cancer.

Methods:

A literature review was carried out between September 2019 and March 2020. Scientific articles were consulted in Pubmed; the search strategy was defined as it follows: “diabetes mellitus”[Mesh] OR “diabetes mellitus”[TIAB] OR “diabetes mellitus, type 2”[Mesh] OR “type 2 diabetes mellitus”[TIAB] OR obesity[Mesh] OR obesity[TIAB] OR hyperglycemia[Mesh] OR hyperglycemia[TIAB]) AND (cancer[Mesh] OR cancer[TIAB] OR neoplasia[Mesh] OR neoplasia[TIAB] OR neoplasias[Mesh] OR neoplasias[TIAB] OR neoplasm[Mesh] OR neoplasm[TIAB] OR tumors[Mesh] OR tumors[TIAB] OR tumor[Mesh] OR tumor[TIAB] OR cancers[Mesh] OR cancers[TIAB]). Articles from SCOPUS, Scielo, LILACS, the Virtual Health Library of Cuba, and Google Scholar were also reviewed. Articles published from 2005 onwards were selected, with 63% from the last five years (2016-2020). Fifty-one publications were analyzed.

Conclusions:

There is consensus regarding the relationship between diabetes and cancer. Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for the development of cancer, fundamentally in the locations of pancreas, kidney, colon and rectum, as well as the uterine body, ovaries and breast in women; while being a protective factor for prostate cancer in men. Both diseases share nonmodifiable risk factors (age and sex), modifiable risk factors (diet, physical activity, alcoholism, among others) and biological conditions (hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia).

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