This study analyzed data from two case-control studies from Italy between 1983 and 2008, including 362 and 326 pancreatic cancer cases and 1552 and 652 hospital controls. A Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) summarizing the major characteristics of the Mediterranean diet was used in the two studies separately and overall. Two further scores of adherence to the diet were applied in the second study, using the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern Adherence Index (MDP) and the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI). The results showed that the odds ratios for increasing levels of scores (indicating increasing adherence) were estimated using multiple logistic regression models. Odds ratio for a MDS score of 6 compared with less than 3 was 0.57 in the first study, 0.51 in the second study, and 0.48 overall. A trend of decreasing risk was observed also for the MDP and MAI the odds ratios for the highest versus the lowest quintile being 0.44 for MDP and 0.68 for the MAI. The results were consistent across strata of age, sex, education, body mass index, alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking, and diabetes. The authors conclude that the Mediterranean diet is favourably associated with decreased pancreatic cancer risk. Br J Cancer. 2013 August. PMID: 23928660
