Pre-operative diabetes mellitus does not worsen survival and post-operative outcomes in Chinese patients undergoing resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been noted as a risk factor for worse post-operative outcomes in many operations. The correlation between pre-operative DM and adverse outcomes after resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) was uncertain. A retrospective study was thus conducted in a tertiary center in Hong Kong. Methods: This was a non-blinded retrospective cohort of pancreatic resections performed for PDAC between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2015. Survival data and post-operative outcomes were obtained from an institutional pancreatic resection database. Patients with benign disease or non-PDAC malignant entities were excluded. Results: A total of 102 patients were recruited, of which 27 (26%) had DM. The median overall survival (OS) for DM was 20 months, and the median OS for non-DM was 15 months. The hazards ratio (HR) was 1.08 (95% CI 0.65-1.70, P = .839). The median disease free survival (DFS) for DM was 7 months, while the median DFS for non-DM was 9 months. The HR was 1.16 (95% CI 0.65-2.08, P = .615). The perioperative mortality was 5.4% for non-DM and 7.7% for DM (HR: 1.46 [95% CI 0.25-8.47], P = .673). There was no difference in post-operative outcomes between the two groups. Conclusions: Pre-operative DM did not worsen post-operative and oncological outcomes of patients with PDAC after pancreatic resections.