Brief Article
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World J Gastroenterol. Apr 28, 2013; 19(16): 2537-2542
Published online Apr 28, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i16.2537
ABO blood type, long-standing diabetes, and the risk of pancreatic cancer
Naoto Egawa, Yingsong Lin, Taku Tabata, Sawako Kuruma, Seiichi Hara, Ken Kubota, Terumi Kamisawa
Naoto Egawa, Taku Tabata, Sawako Kuruma, Seiichi Hara, Ken Kubota, Terumi Kamisawa, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Tokyo 113-8677, Japan
Naoto Egawa, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Tokyo 156-0057, Japan
Yingsong Lin, Department of Public Health, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Aichi 480-1195, Japan
Author contributions: Egawa N designed the research; Egawa N and Lin Y analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Tabata T, Kuruma S, Hara S, Kubota K and Kamisawa T collected the data.
Correspondence to: Dr. Naoto Egawa, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, 2-1-1 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-0057, Japan. naoto_egawa@tmhp.jp
Telephone: +81-3-33037211 Fax: +81-3-33045331
Received: December 4, 2012
Revised: January 16, 2013
Accepted: January 23, 2013
Published online: April 28, 2013
Processing time: 148 Days and 13.2 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To retrospectively study pancreatic cancer patients with respect to their ABO blood type and diabetes.

METHODS: Our analysis included a cohort of 1017 patients with pancreatic ductal cancer diagnosed at our hospital in Tokyo. They were divided into two groups: 114 patients with long-standing type 2 diabetes (DM group, defined as diabetes lasting for at least three years before the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer) and 903 patients without diabetes (non-DM group). Multivariate analysis was performed to identify factors that are associated with long-standing diabetes. The DM group was further divided into three subgroups according to the duration of diabetes (3-5 years, 5.1-14.9 years, and 15 years or more) and univariate analyses were performed.

RESULTS: Of the 883 pancreatic cancer patients with serologically assessed ABO blood type, 217 (24.6%) had blood type O. Compared with the non-DM group, the DM group had a higher frequency of blood type B [odds ratio (OR) = 2.61, 95%CI: 1.24-5.47; reference group: blood type A]. Moreover, male (OR = 3.17, 95%CI: 1.67-6.06), older than 70 years of age (OR = 2.19, 95%CI: 1.20-3.98) and presence of a family history of diabetes (OR = 6.21, 95%CI: 3.38-11.36) were associated with long-standing type 2 diabetes. The mean ages were 64.8 ± 9.2 years, 67.1 ± 9.8 years, and 71.7 ± 7.0 years in the subgroups with the duration of diabetes, 3-5 years, 5.1-14.9 years, and 15 years or more, respectively (P = 0.007). A comparison of ABO blood type distribution among the subgroups also showed a significant difference (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSION: The association of pancreatic cancer with blood type and duration of diabetes needs to be further examined in prospective studies.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer; ABO blood type; Diabetes mellitus; Risk factor; Screening