Purpose: Pancreatic carcinoma is a malignant tumor with poor prognosis. This metaanalysis was conducted to investigate if there exists any association of cholesterol with pancreatic carcinoma risk.

Methods: A literature search was performed in Cochrane Central Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), China Biology Medical literature database (CBM), and WangFang database for relevant available articles. Dietary cholesterol and serum levels of total cholesterol (TC) were assessed and compared. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.

Results: A total 19 articles coming from Europe, Asia and north America were assessed in this study. There was a significant difference between highest and lowest dietary cholesterol intake for pancreatic carcinoma risk (RR=1.31, 95% CI:1.10 to 1.56, p=0.01). Moreover, in subgroup analysis, there was a significant difference between highest and lowest dietary cholesterol intake for pancreatic carcinoma risk for case-control studies (RR=1.52, 95% CI:1.23 to 1.90, p=0.04). However, no significant difference was noticed between highest and lowest dietary cholesterol intake for pancreatic carcinoma risk for cohort studies (RR=1.02, 95% CI:0.87 to 1.20, p=0.51). The meta analysis results showed a significant difference between highest and lowest dietary cholesterol for pancreatic carcinoma in Europeans (RR=1.15, 95% CI:0.86 to 1.53, p=0.05). Moreover, compared to the low serum level of TC, the high level serum TC was associated with pancreatic carcinoma risk (RR=1.00, 95% CI:0.86-1.17, p=0.03). There was a significant difference between high and low levels of serum TC for pancreatic carcinoma risk in Europeans (RR=1.03, 95% CI: 0.72 to 1.48, p=0.04).

Conclusion: Dietary or serum cholesterol may be associated with risk for increased pancreatic carcinoma.