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Obesity In Women Raises Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Posted on: Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 13:50 CDT

New Swedish research has found that obese women with excess abdominal fat have a 70 percent increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. 

The findings, reported Tuesday, also provide the first evidence that the link between obesity and pancreatic cancer are the same for both women and men.

"We found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was significantly raised in obese postmenopausal women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach," wrote Juhua Luo of Sweden's Karolinska Institute and colleagues in a report about the research. 

"Obesity is a growing and largely preventable problem, so it's important that women are aware of this major increase in  risk."

According to data from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death throughout the world, while accounting for only about 2 percent of the cancers diagnosed.  The first year survival rate is under 5 percent. 

Previous research had established smoking and chronic pancreatitis as risk factors for the disease in both men and women, with much of the evidence pointing to a stronger obesity link for men.

The new research, part of a large-scale study called the Women's Health Initiative, involved more than 138,000 menopausal women in the U.S. who were followed for more than seven years to examine the links between obesity and pancreatic cancer.

During the study, Luo and her colleagues found that 251 women developed pancreatic cancer, 78 of whom had the highest waist-to-hip ratios.  After adjusting for other risk factors, this was 70 percent higher than the 34 women with the lowest excess abdominal weight who got pancreatic cancer.

The researchers said the findings further suggests that excess weight around the stomach may be a better predictor of the disease than Body Mass Index, or BMI, a traditional measure of obesity.

They also suggested that insulin levels affected by obesity could increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, and that diabetes may also play a role.   Obesity is one of the primary risk factors for diabetes.

"We know that carrying a high proportion of abdominal fat is associated with increased levels of insulin, so we think this may cause the link between obesity and pancreatic cancer," the researchers said.

Several studies have demonstrated that obesity increases the risk of several types of cancer, such as colon and breast, as well as heart disease and other conditions.

The study was published in the British Journal of Cancer.

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On the Net:

• John Hopkins University
• Women's Health Initiative
• British Journal of Cancer: Obesity and risk of pancreatic cancer among postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative (United States)

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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