Smoking, family history of cancer, and diabetes mellitus are associated with the age of onset of pancreatic cancer in Japanese patients

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the association of risk factors including diabetes mellitus (DM) with the age of onset in Japanese pancreatic cancer (PC) patients.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 688 PC patients diagnosed at our institute. We analyzed the association between the age of onset of PC and the following variables: sex, smoking, alcohol, DM, and a family history of cancer especially PC.

Results: The mean age of PC diagnosis was 67.6 years. The onset of PC occurred earlier in current smokers (63.6 years old, P < 0.001) compared with past smokers (69.5 years old) and never smokers (68.6 years old). Patients with long-standing DM (>2 years) were older (70.5 years, P < 0.001) when diagnosed with PC than patients with new-onset DM (within 2 years) (66.9 years old) and patients without DM (66.7 years old). In the multivariate analysis, current smokers and a family history of cancer other than PC were associated with earlier onset. Conversely, long-standing DM was associated with later onset.

Conclusions: In Japanese PC patients, current smokers and a family history of cancer other than PC were associated with a younger age of onset. Conversely, long-standing DM was associated with a later onset.