This is a subcategory of All cancer deaths (see Map 7).

See also Map 68 Lung cancer and Map 78 Stomach cancer.

There appears to be no strong geographical pattern to rates of mortality from pancreatic cancer. The highest rates are found in the rural parts of Eilean Siar, Poplar in east London, Dyce in Aberdeen, Ladywood East in Birmingham and Middlesbrough East. Although three times as common in smokers as non-smokers, other factors must be sufficiently important for this cancer not to have a similar geographical distribution to other smoking-related cancers, such as lung cancer.

The pancreas is a large gland that is part of the digestive system. It makes digestive juices and insulin. The risk of pancreatic cancer can be increased by smoking, a diet high in sugar and fat, and long-term heavy drinking.

The early signs of pancreatic cancer can be vague – loss of appetite, sickness, general discomfort and pain in the abdominal area – and because the pancreas is deep within the body it can be difficult to make a diagnosis. Due to the fact that there are often no early indications of the disease that are noticeable to the sufferer it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage resulting in a poor prognosis.

Singer Syd Barrett, actress Joan Crawford, poet Cecil Day-Lewis, philosopher Jacques Derrida, actor Rex Harrison, journalist Miles Kington, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and dramatist Dennis Potter all died from this cause of death.