Dietary Factors and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: a Multi-Centre Case-Control Study in China

Background: Pancreatic cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer death with an increasing trend in China.Dietary intake is believed to play an important role in pancreatic cancer carcinogenesis. The aim of this paper wasto evaluate associations between some dietary factors and risk of pancreatic cancer in a multi-centre case-controlstudy conducted in China. Materials and
Methods: Cases (n=323) were ascertained from four provincial cancerhospitals. Controls (n=323) were randomly selected from the family members of patients without pancreaticcancer in the same hospitals, 1:1 matched to cases by gender, age and study center. Data were collected with aquestionnaire by personal interview. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimatedusing conditional logistic regression.
Results: Tea intake (OR =0.49; 95%CI: 0.30-0.80) was associated with a halfreduction in risk of pancreatic cancer. Reduced vegetable consumption (P trend: 0.04) was significant related topancreatic cancer. Although no significant association was found for meat and fruit, ORs were all above or belowthe reference group. A protective effect was found for fruit (OR=1.73 for consumption of 1-2 times/week vs morethan 3 times/week; 95%CI: 1.05-2.86). A high intake of meat was associated to a higher risk of pancreatic cancer(OR=0.59 for consumption of 1-2 times /week vs. more than 3 times /week; 95%CI: 0.35-0.97).
Conclusions: Thepresent study supports fruit consumption to reduce pancreatic cancer risk and indicates that high consumptionof meat is related to an elevated risk. Direct inverse relations with tea and vegetable intake were also confirmed.