Associations between benign cutaneous nevi and risk of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in men and women: results from two prospective cohort studies

Abstract

Aim To examine the association of cutaneous nevi with Type 2 diabetes risk. Methods We prospectivly examined the associations between nevus count and risk of Type 2 diabetes among 26 240 men (1988–2010) from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and 67 050 women (1986–2010) from the Nurses’ Health Study. Information on the numbers of cutaneous nevi on arms at baseline and incident cases of Type 2 diabetes was collected using validated questionnaires. Results During 1 879 287 person-years of follow-up, we documented 9040 incident cases of Type 2 diabetes. After adjustment for age, BMI and other diabetes risk factors, greater number of nevi was associated with higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for <1, 1–5, 6–14 and ≥ 15 nevi were 1.00 (reference), 1.02 (95% CI 0.93, 1.13), 1.08 (95% CI 0.88, 1.34) and 1.57 (95% CI 1.15, 2.15), respectively, for men (P for linear trend = 0.01), and 1.00 (reference), 1.07 (95% CI 1.02, 1.13), 0.98 (95% CI 0.87, 1.10), and 1.25 (1.01, 1.54), respectively, for women (P for linear trend = 0.05). This positive association remained consistent across subgroups stratified by age, BMI, multivitamin use, smoking status, alcohol, physical activity, history of hypercholesterolaemia, family history of diabetes, history of hypertension and menopausal status (in women). Conclusions Cutaneous nevus count may represent a novel marker for development of Type 2 diabetes, suggesting a possible unique melanocytic nevus-related mechanism in the pathogenesis of Type 2 diabetes. Further studies are warranted to confirm the findings and to investigate the underlying mechanisms.

Physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma: Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, it remains unclear whether that association is causal because that study did not adjust for sun exposure as a potential confounding factor and because leucocyte telomere length has been inversely related to sun exposure, naevus count, and melanoma incidence [ 47 , 48 ]. Similarly, it is uncertain whether physical activity affects leucocyte telomere length and naevus count [ 49 – 51 ]. A large cross-sectional study reported a positive association between physical activity and naevus count among 26,000 men but not among 67,000 women in age-adjusted analyses [ 51 ].…”

“…Similarly, it is uncertain whether physical activity affects leucocyte telomere length and naevus count [ 49 – 51 ]. A large cross-sectional study reported a positive association between physical activity and naevus count among 26,000 men but not among 67,000 women in age-adjusted analyses [ 51 ]. That observed gender difference could be due to confounding by sun exposure because women are less likely to participate in outdoor physical activities than men and if they do, they have lower vitamin D serum levels than men in each outdoor physical activity category [ 52 , 53 ].…”

The growth of epidemiology in diabetes research

“…An analytical study reports that benign cutaneous naevi are a novel risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, raising the possibility that counting moles may help predict those at risk . On the same theme, Bergman and Jagannathan argue in their commentary that measuring 1‐h glucose concentration may be a sensitive screening tool to identify people at high risk of diabetes .…”