Patients with multiple myeloma who also have diabetes have reduced overall survival when compared to those without diabetes. However, in a subgroup analysis, this difference in survival due to diabetes was seen in white patients but not in Black patients, according to a study published today in Blood Advances.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects 13 percent of the U.S. population, and its prevalence is growing rapidly. Multiple myeloma, a cancer of blood plasma cells in the bone marrow, is the second most common blood cancer in the United States and disproportionately affects non-Hispanic Black adults, in whom it is the most common blood cancer.