In reply
We read with interest the comments by Satoh and colleagues who, in contrast with our previous findings,1 reported data suggesting that in patients with lung cancer, DM is not associated with longer survival rates. We would like to add some remarks. First, regarding the data of Satoh and colleagues, we were unable to compare our results with theirs. For example, it is unclear whether their patients with lung cancer either with or without DM were matched according to age and duration of DM. Second, Satoh et al studied only patients with lung cancer, thus it is likely that they could identify longer survival rates in patients with both DM and malignant tumors by analyzing different types of tumors, as we did in our study. Third, the possibility that differences in genetic, racial, and environmental factors may have a role in affecting the clinical course of both DM2 and malignant tumors3 should not be discarded.