(HealthDay News) – Among patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC), those with pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for longer than 5 years have an increased mortality risk, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in Cancer.
To assess the effect of varying durations of pre-existing T2DM on survival, Allen Hwang, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from The Health Improvement Network medical record database (2003 to 2010) for 3,147 patients with PAC. Of these, 745 had pre-existing T2DM and 2,402 did not.
In the primary analysis, the researchers found that there was no survival difference for those with and without pre-existing T2DM (hazard ratio, 1.02; P=0.620). In a secondary analysis, significantly increased mortality was seen for patients with T2DM of more than 5 years duration (hazard ratio, 1.16; P<0.05).
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“In summary, we observed a significant increase in overall mortality in patients with a long-standing duration of T2DM (greater than 5 years),” the authors write. “The implications of these results are magnified by the growing prevalence of diabetes mellitus, the incidence of which has been increasing over the past 2 decades and is expected to nearly double over the next 25 years.”
