ABSTRACT
Background: Pancreatic cancer [PC] is a deadly disease with a 5-year survival of less than 5%. Worldwide PC incidence rates are lower among women than men. While this suggests a protective role for steroid hormones in PC risk, results from epidemiological studies are not consistent
Methods: 153 new incident PC cases and 202 controls were recruited from a prospective case-control study, running in a referral center for endoscopic ultrasonography during 2011-2017. A structured valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection by a few trained interviewers. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for reproductive factors and PC were estimated using logistic regression methods
Results: Mean age [SD] of the cases and the controls were 63.18 [11.4] and 63.37 [12.0] years, respectively. Age at menarche, age at menopause, number of parity, gravidity, and abortion were not associated with PC risk
Conclusion: This study does not support the hypothesis that menstrual and reproductive factors are associated with PC risk