NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The use of diabetes drugs called thiazolidinediones, such as rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (Actos), may reduce the risk of lung cancer, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

These are preliminary findings, Dr. Rangaswamy Govindarajan from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, told Reuters Health. "Physicians should be cautioned not to start using these agents for cancer prevention."

Govindarajan and colleagues investigated the effect of thiazolidinediones on the risk of lung, prostate, and colon cancer in men aged 40 years and older with diabetes, using a database covering 10 Veterans Affairs medical centers.

Among 87,678 individuals identified, there were 1137 cases of colon cancer, 3246 cases of prostate cancer and 1371 cases of lung cancer.

After accounting for all other risk factors, patients who were prescribed thiazolidinediones had a 33 percent lower risk of lung cancer than patients who were not prescribed thiazolidinediones, the researchers report. These drugs may also reduce the risk of prostate and colon cancer, but the findings were not statistically significant.

The lung cancer risk reduction seen with thiazolidinedione use was much greater among African American men than among white men, the researchers note. Similar subgroup analyses yielded inconsistent results for prostate and colorectal cancer.

"We are still in the process of designing further studies," Govindarajan said.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, April 20, 2007.