Is type 2 diabetes mellitus a risk factor for gallbladder, biliary and pancreatic cancer?

There are minimal data assessing the relationship between diabetes with gallbladder, biliary and pancreatic cancer. Recent small studies have suggested an elevated risk of pancreatic cancer only in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

A research article published on November 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team, lead by Dr. Jamal at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Long Beach, California, performed a retrospective search of type 2 DM patients matched to non-diabetic controls, discharged from Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals from 1990 to 2000, for the presence of gallbladder, biliary and pancreatic cancer. The database search identified 1 172 496 cases and control subjects for analysis. There was no difference in mean age between the case and control groups. Among patients with type 2 DM, the incidence of pancreatic cancer was increased threefold compared to controls, and gallbladder and extrahepatic biliary cancers were increased by twofold compared to controls.

This is the first study to provide a comprehensive assessment of the risk for gallbladder, biliary and pancreatic cancers in a large cohort of patients with type 2 DM. This study suggests future avenues for investigation to determine preventive measures and screening implementation strategies, to limit the impact of these tumors in the veteran as well as general type 2 DM population in the United States.

Reference: Jamal MM, Yoon EJ, Vega KJ, Hashemzadeh, Chang KJ. Diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for gastrointestinal cancer among American veterans. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(42): 5274-5278

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/15/5274.asp

Correspondence to: M Mazen Jamal, MD, MPH, Division of Gastroenterology, Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, 5901 E. 7th St. Long Beach, CA 90822, United States. jamalm@uci.edu

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World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H. pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

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