Home Diabetes and Endocrinology Higher Fasting Plasma Glucose May Up Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Higher Fasting Plasma Glucose May Up Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Continuous increase in risk of pancreatic cancer with elevating fasting glucose, even within normal range

THURSDAY, July 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer increases with rising fasting blood glucose levels, even within the normal range, according to a study published online July 24 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Dong-Hoe Koo, M.D., Ph.D., from Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues used prospectively collected data to examine the correlation between fasting glucose levels and pancreatic cancer risk. Data were obtained for 25.4 million patients who participated in a preventive health check-up between 2009 and 2013 and were assessed for pancreatic cancer incidence rates according to fasting glucose level.

The researchers found that the five-year cumulative incidence rates were 32 per 100,000 for low normal (<90 mg/dL), 41 per 100,000 for high normal (90 to 99 mg/dL), 50 per 100,000 for prediabetes level 1 (100 to 109 mg/dL), 64 per 100,000 for prediabetes level 2 (110 to 125 mg/dL), 75 per 100,000 for diabetes (≥126 mg/dL), and 121 per 100,000 on antidiabetic medications. With increasing fasting plasma glucose levels, the investigators observed a continuous increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer. This increased incidence persisted even after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, drinking, exercise, body mass index, and diabetes duration.

“The cumulative incidence rate of pancreatic cancer significantly increased with elevating fasting glucose level in both diabetic and prediabetic populations, including those with a normal range of fasting blood glucose levels,” the authors write.

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