Saturday 14/February/2026 – 12:20 PM
A study revealed an increasing association between disease Diabetes Type 2 and pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most deadly types of cancer, killing about 28 people every day in Britain, while approximately 10,800 new cases are diagnosed annually in the United Kingdom.
Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer
According to what was published by the British newspaper Daily Mail, the study published in JAMA Network Open, by researchers at the College of Medicine at Seoul National University and South Korean institutions, aimed to investigate whether diabetes increases the risk of developing pancreatic cysts, some of which may later turn into cancerous tumors.
The pancreas is a gland located behind the stomach and plays a vital role in regulating blood sugar levels through the secretion of insulin. Pancreatic cysts are often discovered by chance during medical examinations, and in most cases they are benign, but some of them may witness cellular changes that lead to their transformation into cancerous tumors, which makes early detection difficult due to the organ’s location deep inside the body.
Doctors explained that the relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer has been known for decades, but it is described as a “chicken and egg relationship,” due to the influence of each on the other. Research has indicated that diabetics are about twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer compared to others, while obesity, which represents 80 to 85% of the risk of type 2 diabetes, is linked to about a tenth of pancreatic cancer cases.
Blood sugar level
The Korean study relied on tracking data on 3.85 million adults for 10 years, 8.6% of whom were diabetic, and the participants were divided into categories according to blood sugar level, starting from normal and pre-diabetic, all the way to those with diabetes for less or more than five years.
The results showed that the risk of developing pancreatic cysts increases with the length of time of diabetes. People with long-term diabetes were 37% more likely to develop cysts than those with prediabetes, and with a risk rate about 1.37 times higher than those with normal glucose levels. The risk was greater among diabetic men under the age of sixty, and smokers.
However, the data showed that only 0.8% of the total participants developed pancreatic cysts within ten years. Of these, cancer developed in 4.1%, compared to a general incidence rate that did not exceed 0.7% among the rest of the population.
The results indicate the importance of monitoring people with diabetes, especially younger people, men, and smokers, with the continuing scientific debate about whether the observed increase in infection rates among young age groups reflects a real increase in the disease, or an improvement in early detection and diagnosis methods.
