Active and Passive Smoking and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer in the Netherlands Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: To date, cigarette smoking is the most consistent risk factor for pancreatic cancer. We prospectively examined the role of active cigarette smoking, smoking cessation, and passive smoking as determinants for pancreatic cancer.Methods: The Netherlands Cohort Study consisted of 120,852 men and women who completed a baseline questionnaire in 1986. After 16.3 years of follow-up, 520 incident pancreatic cancer cases were available for analysis. A case-cohort approach was employed using the person-years of follow-up of a random subcohort (n = 5,000), which was chosen immediately after baseline.Results: Compared with never cigarette smokers, both former and current cigarette smokers had an increased pancreatic cancer risk [multivariable-adjusted hazard rate ratio (HR), 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.75 and HR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.40-2.38, respectively]. We observed an increased pancreatic cancer risk per increment of 10 years of smoking (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.08-1.22) and an HR of 1.08 per increment of 10 cigarettes/d (95% CI, 0.98-1.19). Quitting smoking gradually reduced pancreatic cancer risk and approached unity after ≥20 years of quitting. No association was observed for passive smoking exposure and pancreatic cancer risk in women; in men, this association was not investigated because >90% of the men were ever smokers.Conclusions: Overall, our findings confirmed that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer, whereas quitting smoking reduced risk. No association was observed between passive smoking exposure and pancreatic cancer risk in women.Impact: Quitting smoking would benefit the burden on pancreatic cancer incidence. Cancer Epidemiol

Environmental tobacco smoke and the risk of pancreatic cancer among non-smokers: a meta-analysis

“…One of the 9 selected articles included two independent studies19 so there were a total of 10 studies considered, including 6 prospective cohort studies,12 13 19–21 3 retrospective case–control studies22–24 and 1 prospective case–cohort study 25. (table 1) Four of the studies were conducted in the USA, three in western European countries, one in Canada, one in Japan and one in Egypt (the only one in a middle-income or low-income country).…”

“…In total, four prospective studies12 13 20 25 and two retrospective studies23 24 investigated the association between childhood ETS exposure and the risk of pancreatic cancer. As two prospective studies12 13 were both conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, only one of them12 was included in the analysis (further details are provided in the Methods section).…”

Smoking Is Related to Pancreatic Fibrosis in Humans

“…Pipe and cigar smokers have a lower risk of developing PC than cigarette smokers, with a relative risk between 0 and 2.1 ( 8,9 ). To date, no statistical relationship between passive smoking and the development of PC has been reported in the literature ( 4,10 ). Additionally, no relationship between smokeless tobacco and PC was observed in a recent meta-analysis (relative risk 1.03, 95 % confi dence interval 0.71 -1.49) ( 11 ).…”

Health promotion and dental caries

“…12 Hence, the adoption of healthy dietary habits, with a controlled sugar intake, could improve both oral and general health. Similarly, smoking is an important risk factor for periodontitis 13 and tooth loss 14 as well as for a variety of cancers, [15][16][17] and smoke cessation would bring endless benefits to the health of the mouth and of the whole body.…”