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. 2008 Dec 1;8:356. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-8-356

Table 3.

RR/OR of pancreatic cancer associated with smokeless tobacco use

Studya ST use Smoking Sex RR/OR


Typeb Exposurec No. Casesd Estimate (95% CI) Notes

Cohort studies RR

US Veterans [19] ST Use Never M 1 NA 1.65 e, f

Lutheran Brotherhood [9] ST Ever Any M 2 16 1.70(0.90–3.10)

Norway Cohorts [10] Snuff Ever Any M 3 45 1.67(1.12–2.50) g

Former Any 4 18 1.80(1.04–3.09)

Current Any 5 27 1.60(1.00–2.55)

Ever Never 6 3 0.85(0.24–3.07)

Ever Former 7 14 1.37(0.59–3.17)

Ever Current 8 28 1.86(1.13–3.05)

Swedish Construction Workers [11] Snuff Ever Any M 9 NA 0.90(0.70–1.20)

Ever Never 10 20 2.00(1.20–3.30)

Former Never 11 2 1.40(0.40–5.90)

Current Never 12 18 2.10(1.20–3.60)

Case-control studies OR

Third National Cancer Survey [16] ST Ever Any M 13 3 0.29(0.09–0.92) h

Louisiana [20] Chewing Use Any M+F 14 NA "No excess risk"

Snuff Use Any 15 NA "No excess risk"

Washington State [12] Chewing Ever Any M 16 NA 0.80 (Not sig.) i

Quebec [21] Chewing Use Any M+F 17 NA "Not associated with increased risk"

Nine Hospital [13] Chewing Ever Neverj M 18 6 2.82(0.95–9.39) k

Snuff Ever Any 19 2 1.32(0.22–7.93) h

Fifteen County [14] ST Ever Never M+F 20 5 1.10(0.40–3.10) l

Texas [15] Chewing Ever Any M+F 21 34 0.70(0.40–1.10)

Ever Ever 22 24 0.70(0.40–1.20)

Ever Never 23 10 0.60(0.30–1.40)

Snuff Ever Any 24 18 0.60(0.30–1.10)

Ever Ever 25 14 0.70(0.30–1.40)

Ever Never 26 4 0.50(0.10–1.50)

a Fuller details of the studies are given in Tables 1 and 2

b ST implies smokeless tobacco unspecified or combined snuff use or chewing

c Ever, former and current ST are compared with never ST. Use indicates timing not given and comparison is with non use

d Cases in ST users as defined, NA = not available

e The abstract suggests the results are for never smokers, but this is not totally clear. The population included < 0.5% females. In earlier reports from this study [30] RRs were reported of 3.3 (statistically significant) for former ST users, and of 2.1 (not significant) for current ST users, based on, respectively, 7 and 5 cases in the exposed group

f Confidence intervals could not be calculated

g In earlier reports the risk of histologically-reported pancreatic cancer in regular ST users was stated to be 2.2 ("significant") [30] and 2.9 (trend p = 0.06) [31]

h Estimated from data provided

i Additional adjustment for age and dietary factors did not materially affect the odds ratios

j Includes long term (> 10) years quitters

k Personal communication from the author

l The authors also reported an adjusted OR of 1.4 (0.5–3.6) for the comparison (among never cigarette smokers) of ever used ST, but may have used pipe or cigar versus never used ST, pipe or cigar