Based on a study published in Diabetes Care in April 2019, it appears that there is a positive association between use of topical corticosteroids and new incident diabetes.

A Danish case-control study collected health care data from people who were diagnosed with new onset Type 2 diabetes in Denmark and the United Kingdom.
A total of 115,218 in Denmark and 54,944 in the UK were identified with new diabetes.
The researchers found that topical corticosteroid use was significantly associated with new onset diabetes of diabetes in both groups. In the Danish group (adjusted odds ratio was 1.35) and U.K. group (adjusted odds ratio was 1.23).
They also found that there was a significant dose response relationship. The more potent the steroid the higher the incident risk of diabetes.
The next question to be addressed is if topical steroid cream increases blood glucose in those with existing diabetes.
Read the “Association Between Topical Corticosteroid Use and Type 2 Diabetes in Two European Population-Based Adult Cohorts” Diabetes Care Abstract here.
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