DIABETES AND PANCREATIC-CARCINOMA

Objective. - To analyse the association between pancreatic cancer and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Design. - Cohort study of fat al pancreatic cancer with 17 years of follow-up. Setting. - Working me n in Paris. Participants. - 6 988 men aged 44-55 years employed by a g overnment agency. Following a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, subjec ts were classed at baseline, according to the WHO criteria as normoglu cose tolerant, impaired glucose tolerant or diabetic. Known diabetic p atients were grouped with the latter. Results. - Among the 312 diabeti c subjects (bath known and newly diagnosed) the death rate from pancre atic cancer was 64 per 100 000 person years, and 28 and 18 per 100 000 person years among the 684 impaired glucose tolerant and 5 992 normog lycaemic subjects respectively. After the exclusion of deaths during t he first five years of follow-up, a possible marker of occult cancer a t baseline, the relative risk of fatal pancreatic cancer in diabetic v ersus normoglycaemic men was 4.9 (95 % CI, 1.3 to 18 after adjustement for age and tobacco consumption).