THURSDAY, Dec. 25 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with type 2 diabetes, thiazolidinedione therapy does not appear to increase the risk of colonic neoplasia, researchers report in the December issue of Gastroenterology.

James D. Lewis, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted three retrospective case-control studies of 14,086 patients who were enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente of Northern California system between 1994 and 2005. In cases, they separately studied those diagnosed with colonic neoplasia during a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, or a follow-up lower endoscopy.

The researchers found an inverse association between thiazolidinedione exposure and prevalence of neoplasia in patients undergoing colonoscopy (adjusted odds ratio, 0.73), but the association disappeared when the analysis was limited to patients without a history of anemia (adjusted odds ratio , 0.97). They also found that there were no significant associations between thiazolidinedione exposure and colonic neoplasia in patients who underwent sigmoidoscopy or serial lower endoscopies.

"Because it will take decades to sufficiently follow large cohorts to address the risk of colon cancer following thiazolidinedione exposure, we studied development of adenomatous polyps," the authors write. "We did not obtain evidence to indicate that exposure to thiazolidinediones increases the risk of colonic neoplasia."

Several study authors disclosed receiving research funding from pharmaceutical companies.

Abstract
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