Incidence of pancreatic cancer in Greenland 2000–2010

BACKGROUND: Inuit people are known to be at an increased risk of cancers usually uncommon to the western world such as cancers of the nasopharynx and salivary glands. But what is the trend regarding pancreatic cancer? OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of pancreatic cancer (PC) in Greenland compared with Denmark in the period 2000–2010. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective register-based study. Cases were retrieved from The Danish Cancer Register and The Greenlandic Patient Register and stratified in 5-year age intervals for each year. Age-standardized incidence ratios (SIR) for each year for Greenland compared with Denmark were calculated using the number of cases and the number of inhabitants in each 5-year age interval and in each country. The average SIR for the entire period was calculated using a weighted average. RESULTS: The study revealed a SIR of 2.38 (95% CI: 1.97–2.86; p<0.0001) indicating a significantly increased incidence of PC in Greenland compared with Denmark. A linear regression analysis showed no significant change in the SIR over time (p for trend 0.25) as well as no significant change isolated in Greenland (p for trend 0.8). Furthermore, the Inuit were significantly younger at the time of diagnosis (mean 62.7 vs. 70.0; p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The age-standardized incidence of PC is 138% higher in Greenland than in Denmark. A part of this could be explained by a higher prevalence of smoking and DM-2. However, the impact of genetic factors cannot be disregarded and should be subjected to further investigation.