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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 155, No. 9 : 793-795
Copyright © 2002 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Invited Commentary: Pancreas Cancer—We Know about Smoking, but Do We Know Anything Else?

John D. Potter

From the Cancer Prevention Research Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, MP 900, P.O. Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109-1024 (e-mail: jpotter@fhcrc.org).


   INTRODUCTION
 
What we know with any certainty about pancreas cancer is quite limited. It is a disease of the developed world. It is more common in men than in women, and it has a case-fatality proportion that approaches 90 percent within 12 months of diagnosis (1Go). The only well-established etiologic factor is cigarette smoking. There are data showing that, as with many other epithelial cancers, a diet high in vegetables and fruit—and perhaps specifically high in folate—is associated with a lower risk, though not consistently (2Go). Genetic/familial predisposition is well-described but relatively rare (3GoGo–5Go). Chronic pancreatitis is a predisposing condition with perhaps a 20-fold excess risk (6Go), but the population attributable fraction is quite unclear—not least because there is underdiagnosis of pancreatitis.

There are no screening tests for pancreas cancer. It is often difficult to diagnose, and it is almost always a painful, miserable way to . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   NOTES
 

   REFERENCES
 

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