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Survival and glycemic control outcomes among patients with coexisting pancreatic cancer and diabetes mellitus


Aim: We aimed to determine the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on survival in pancreatic cancer and effects of pancreatic cancer on glycemic control in DM. Materials & methods: Patients with pancreatic cancer from 2007 to 2015, with and without DM, were matched 1:1. We compared characteristics between the groups and assessed 2-year survival with Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results: In patients with DM, hemoglobin A1c decreased significantly over time (p = 0.01). In survival analysis, 2-year overall survival estimates were 15% (95% CI: 8–24%) for DM patients versus 26% (95% CI: 17–36%) for non-DM patients (p = 0.55). The hazard ratio for matched pairs was 1.15 (95% CI: 0.75–1.77; p = 0.51). Conclusion: DM did not decrease survival in pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer did not affect glycemic control.

Lay abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on survival of patients with pancreatic cancer and to determine whether pancreatic cancer and its treatment affect glycemic control. From an institutional cancer registry, 226 patients with pancreatic cancer were identified and grouped by the presence of DM (n = 113) or absence of DM (n = 113). The groups were matched by age and year of pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Results indicated that DM does not decrease survival and that pancreatic cancer and its treatment do not affect the control of DM.

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