Meta-Analysis Links Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer

Individuals with diabetes have double the risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with nondiabetics, according to a meta-analysis of 88 studies. The risk of pancreatic cancer was greatest early after the diagnosis of diabetes, but remained elevated long after the diagnosis. The individual-level relative risk ranged from 6.69 at <1 year to 1.36 at 10 years. The Annals of Surgical Oncology findings suggest that selective screening of patients with new-onset diabetes for pancreatic cancer needs to be considered.