• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pancreatic Cancer Risk Increases With Early Obesity

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 06:05 CDT

According to a study released on Tuesday, early adulthood obesity can raise a persons risk for pancreatic cancer later in life.

"This is the first study to explore at which ages excess body weight predisposes an individual to pancreatic cancer," Donghui Li, professor of medicine at the M.D. Anderson's Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology told the AFP.

"With our epidemiological research, we aimed to demonstrate the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and risk of pancreatic cancer across a patient's life span and determine if there was a time period that specifically predisposes an individual to the disease," he added.

The study also examined the link between cancer occurrence and a person’s body mass index, which is calculated according to a person’s height and weight.

According to the findings, obese youths between the age of 14 and 19 years old had 60 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than their peers.

Obese people between the age of 20 and 40 had two to three times the chance of developing pancreatic cancer.

Those who gained weight in their 40s and beyond saw the risk level off.  Obese individuals who gained their weight after 50 had nearly no increase in risk.

The research also discovered that obese individuals also have a greater chance to develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to an M.D. Anderson press release, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women in the United States.

---

On the Net:

• M.D. Anderson's Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology
• Journal of the American Medical Association

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category