Pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer death in both men and women, but more importantly, ranks high as one of the deadliest cancers. Inflammation has been hypothesized to be one of the main pathways to cancer development and is consistently associated with many cancers. While a number of studies have found an increased risk of pancreatic cancer with inflammation, other studies found no association. These conflicting studies vary in many aspects to our proposed study – only pancreatic cancer was examined; only one study out of five included anti-inflammatory drugs use, and no studies utilized a numeric score that represents the genetic predisposition to inflammation (genetic risk score). Additionally, no studies to date have examined the association between an inflammation risk score and risk for pancreatic cancer. This study aims to address these gaps and examine this novel construct. We will assess the association between inflammation, risk score and medication use with risk of pancreatic cancer. We will calculate ratios and include relevant variables such as baseline information, education, height, smoking, alcohol, etc. This study will take approximately 16 months and will result in findings that aim to clarify and contribute to previously relevant literature on inflammation, anti-inflammatory drug use and pancreatic cancer risk. These results may be clinically relevant for pancreatic cancer prevention and help elucidate how inflammation, genetics and use of anti-inflammatory drugs contribute to one of the deadliest cancers.
