Dipeptidyl peptidase 4-inhibitor treatment was associated with a reduced incidence of neoplasm in patients with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of 115 randomized controlled trials with 121961 participants

Objective: To evaluate the association between dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) and the incidence of neoplasm in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: Pubmed, Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Clinicaltrial.gov website were searched from May 2002 to December 2021. Randomized controlled trials with reports of neoplasm events which compared DPP-4i versus non-DPP-4i users. Results: Generally, DPP-4i was associated with a decreased incidence of overall neoplasm events in patients with T2D when compared with non-DPP-4i agents (OR = 0.91, 95%CI, 0.8 to 0.97). Moreover, the incidence of rectal neoplasm, especially rectal malignant neoplasm, and the incidence of skin neoplasm were significantly decreased in DPP-4i users. The overall neoplasm events were less frequent in DPP-4i users who were elderly, or male, or obese, or Caucasian, or with over 10 years of diabetes, or with follow-up duration over 52 weeks. Conclusions: DPP-4i was associated with decreased risks of overall neoplasm, rectal neoplasm, rectal malignant neoplasm and skin neoplasm in patients with T2D. The overall neoplasm events were less frequent in patient with DPP-4i treatment who were elderly, male, obese, Caucasian, with long diabetes durations and with long follow-up durations. Further investigations are still required. Meta-analysis registration: CRD42021273627.