Epidemiol Health.  2022;44(1):e2022040. 10.4178/epih.e2022040.

The association of pancreatic cancer incidence with smoking status and smoking amount in Korean men

• Nam DJ
• Oh CM
• Ha E
• Kim MH
• Yang EH
• Lee HC
• Shin SS
• Hwang WY
• You AH
• Ryoo JH

• KMID: 2531853
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2022040

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Our study examined the dose-response relationship between smoking amounts (pack-years) and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in Korean men.
METHODS
Of 125,743 participants who underwent medical health checkups in 2009, 121,408 were included in the final analysis and observed for the development of pancreatic cancer. We evaluated the associations between smoking amounts and incident pancreatic cancer in 4 groups classified by pack-year amounts. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of incident pancreatic cancer by comparing groups 2 (<20 pack-year smokers), 3 (20-≤40 pack-year smokers), and 4 (>40 pack-year smokers) with group 1 (never smokers).
RESULTS
During 527,974.5 person-years of follow-up, 245 incident cases of pancreatic cancer developed between 2009 and 2013. The multivariate-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for incident pancreatic cancer in groups 2, 3, and 4 were 1.05 (0.76 to 1.45), 1.28 (0.91 to 1.80), and 1.57 (1.00 to 2.46), respectively (p for trend=0.025). The HR (95% CI) of former smokers showed a dose-response relationship in the unadjusted model, but did not show a statistically significant association in the multivariate-adjusted model. The HR (95% CI) of current smokers showed a dose-response relationship in both the unadjusted (p for trend=0.020) and multivariate-adjusted models (p for trend=0.050).
CONCLUSIONS
The risk of developing pancreatic cancer was higher in current smokers status than in former smokers among Korean men, indicating that smoking cessation may have a protective effect.

Keyword

Smoking; Pancreatic cancer; Smoking cessation