Pancreatic cancer marker

People with abnormal glucose metabolism have an increased pancreatic cancer risk, said Susan M. Gapstur, Ph.D., of Northwestern University, Chicago, and her associates.

They studied about 35,000 nondiabetic men and women enrolled between 1968 and 1973. During 25 years of follow-up, pancreatic cancer risk showed a dose-response relationship with plasma glucose level following the 1-hour glucose tolerance test that subjects underwent at enrollment (JAMA 283[19]:2552-58, 2000).

A total of 96 men and 43 women died of pancreatic cancer. The relative risk for pancreatic cancer was 1.6 among patients with glucose levels between 6.7 and 11 mmol/L, and 2.15 in those with glucose values above 11.1 mmol/L.