Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in United States. Once diagnosed, patients have a very poor prognosis with median survival between 3 to 6 months.
A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association has found a link between being obese in early adulthood and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
Individuals who were overweight (BMI of 25-29.9) from the ages of 14 to 39 years or obese (BMI > 30) from the ages of 20 to 49 years were at about twice the risk of developing pancreatic cancer (OR 1.67 & 2.58 respectively), independent of diabetes status. Also obesity at older age was associated with lower overall survival in patients with this malignancy.
The main drawback of the study is that this is a case control study, therefore the 2 factors studied (viz. pancreatic cancer and obesity) could occur together but not be causally related (although the authors did do adjust for most other risk factors of pancreatic cancer).
Reference: JAMA – Body Mass Index and Risk, Age of Onset, and Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
Links for more information on pancreatic cancer: Mayo Clinic, National Cancer Institute
Update (6/29/2009): YouTube Video from JAMA
