Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Sep;7(9):1007-12.
doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2009.06.008. Epub 2009 Jun 26.

Pancreatic cancer patients who smoke and drink are diagnosed at younger ages

Randall E Brand  1 , Julia B Greer, Eugene Zolotarevsky, Rhonda Brand, Hongyan Du, Diane Simeone, Anna Zisman, Addi Gorchow, Shih-Yuan Connie Lee, Hemant K Roy, Michelle A Anderson
Affiliations

Pancreatic cancer patients who smoke and drink are diagnosed at younger ages

Randall E Brand et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Background & aims: Cigarette smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the effects of alcohol consumption. The effects of cigarettes and alcohol on age of sporadic pancreatic cancer diagnosis have not been examined; we evaluated the independent and synergistic effects of lifetime cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on age at pancreatic cancer diagnosis in the United States.

Methods: We analyzed data on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption from the IMPAC Services, Inc Cancer Information Resource File (CIRF), collected from June 1, 1993, to December 31, 2003, for 29,239 reported, histologically confirmed cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We also analyzed data on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption for 820 histologically confirmed cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma from the University of Michigan Pancreatic Cancer Registry (UMPCR), collected from January 2004 to October 2007.

Results: Current cigarette smokers were diagnosed at significantly younger ages than never smokers, according to data from the CIRF and UMPCR (8.3 and 6.3 y, respectively); the UMPCR data indicated dose effects. Past and current alcohol consumption were associated with younger age at diagnosis in both databases. Current smokers who were current drinkers were diagnosed significantly earlier (CIRF, 10.2 y; UMPCR, 8.6 y) than abstainers. Past cigarette smoking was associated modestly with younger diagnosis age.

Conclusions: Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were associated with younger age at pancreatic cancer presentation and have a combined effect on diagnosis age. Past cigarette smoking is less influential. Smoking cessation programs could help prevent pancreatic cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dose effects (lifetime pack years of cigarette smoking) vs. non-smoking on age at pancreatic cancer diagnosis for non-drinkers in UMPCR
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of years of smoking cessation vs. active smoking on age at pancreatic cancer diagnosis in UMPCR
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, et al. Cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 2007;57(1):43–66. - PubMed
    1. Ghaneh P, Costello E, Neoptolemos JP. Biology and management of pancreatic cancer. Gut. 2007;56(8):1134–52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li D, Xie K, Wolff R, Abbruzzese JL. Pancreatic cancer. Lancet. 2004;363(9414):1049–57. - PubMed
    1. Egawa S, Takeda K, Fukuyama S, et al. Clinicopathological aspects of small pancreatic cancer. Pancreas. 2004;28(3):235–40. - PubMed
    1. Kalapothaki V, Tzonou A, Hsieh CC, et al. Tobacco, ethanol, coffee, pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, and cholelithiasis as risk factors for pancreatic carcinoma. Cancer Causes Control. 1993;4(4):375–82. - PubMed

Publication types