Early precursors of pancreatic cancer in college men.

From college data on 50,000 male former students, the records of 126 men who died of pancreatic cancer in a 16-50 yr follow-up period were compared with those of 504 surviving classmates with respect to physical and social characteristics. Return mail questionnaires received from 30,000 surviving alumni in 1962 or 1966 also were reviewed for characteristics that might predict altered risk of pancreatic cancer. Strong positive associations were found for cigarette smoking as reported both during college (p less than 0.001) and at time of questionnaire return (p = 0.03). Smoking 10 or more cigarettes per day during college corresponded to a relative risk of 2.6 with 95% confidence limits 1.5 to 4.6, and a positive smoking history at questionnaire return yielded a relative risk of 2.4 (1.1-5.1). No association was found for collegiate coffee drinking, either before or after adjustment for cigarette smoking. The relative risk for coffee drinking adjusted for smoking was 1.1 (0.7-1.8). In contrast, collegiate tea consumption was associated with a reduction in pancreatic cancer risk. The relative risk for tea drinking adjusted for smoking was 0.5 (0.3-0.9). Men who at college physical examination complained of occasional abdominal pain or discomfort had increased relative risk of pancreatic cancer (3.1 : 1.1-9.0) in the follow-up period.