ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Diabetes mellitus plays an important role in cancer prevalence and outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of DM on stages and outcomes among patients with colorectal cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The study enrolled 945 patients who were diagnosed as having colorectal carcinoma from August 1994 to December 2002. In the cohort, 26 patients were diagnosed as having DM. With a median follow-up of 45.8 months, differences in overall survival and disease-free survival between the diabetes and non-diabetes groups were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Kaplan and Meier analysis showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in overall survival rates at 3 years or 5 years. At 5 years, patients with DM, compared with patients without diabetes, experienced a significantly lower disease-free survival rate (34.2% diabetics vs. 55.1% non-diabetics; P = 0.025).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>DM was associated with an increased risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer.</p>