The association of new-onset diabetes with subsequent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer-novel use of a large administrative database.

BACKGROUND: Screening options for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are limited. New-onset type 2 diabetes (NoD) is associated with subsequent diagnosis of PDAC in observational studies and may afford an opportunity for PDAC screening. We evaluated this association using a large administrative database. METHODS: Patients were identified using claims data from the OptumLabs® Data Warehouse. Adult patients with NoD diagnosis were matched 1:3 with patients without NoD using age, sex and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) status. The event of PDAC diagnosis was compared between cohorts using the Kaplan-Meier method. Factors associated with PDAC diagnosis were evaluated with Cox's proportional hazards modeling. RESULTS: We identified 640 421 patients with NoD and included 1 921 263 controls. At 3 years, significantly more PDAC events were identified in the NoD group vs control group (579 vs 505; P < 0.001). When controlling for patient factors, NoD was significantly associated with elevated risk of PDAC (HR 3.474, 95% CI 3.082-3.920, P < 0.001). Other factors significantly associated with PDAC diagnosis were increasing age, increasing age among Black patients, and COPD diagnosis (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: NoD was independently associated with subsequent diagnosis of PDAC within 3 years. Future studies should evaluate the feasibility and benefit of PDAC screening in patients with NoD.

Quality-of-life implications of risk-reducing cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND: Modern advances in genetic sequencing techniques have allowed for increased availability of genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes. Consequently, more people are being identified as mutation carriers and becoming aware of their increased risk of malignancy. Testing is commonplace for many inheritable cancer syndromes, and with that comes the knowledge of being a gene carrier for some patients. With increased risk of malignancy, many guidelines recommend that gene carriers partake in risk reduction strategies, including risk-reducing surgery for some syndromes. This review explores the quality-of-life consequences of genetic testing and risk-reducing surgery. METHODS: A narrative review of PubMed/MEDLINE was performed, focusing on the health-related quality-of-life implications of surgery for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, familial adenomatous polyposis and hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. RESULTS: Risk-reducing surgery almost uniformly decreases cancer anxiety and affects patients' quality of life. CONCLUSION: Although the overwhelming quality-of-life implications of surgery are neutral to positive, risk-reducing surgery is irreversible and can be associated with short- and long-term side-effects.