WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A new study says smoking may increase the risk of developing diabetes.
The finding emerged when researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine examined the relationship between smoking and diabetes among participants in a major national study, the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS).
They compared the incidence of diabetes after five years among smokers and those who had never smoked.
Twenty-five percent of the participants who smoked and did not have diabetes when the study began had developed diabetes by the five-year follow-up, compared to 14 percent of the participants who had never smoked, said Capri G. Foy, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the national IRAS coordinating center at the School of Medicine.
Reporting in the journal Diabetes Care, the researchers found that when the analyses were adjusted to account for other diabetes risk factors, "smokers still exhibited significantly increased incidence of diabetes compared to people who had never smoked," Foy said.
"These findings suggest another poor health outcome associated with cigarettes, supporting current surgeon general's warnings against cigarette smoking."
