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ATLANTA – Being overweight before the age of 50 could be more strongly badociated with the risk of pancreatic cancer mortality than being overweight in older people, according to the results of ################################################################### 39, a study presented at the AACR annual meeting, held from March 29 to April 3.
Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, accounting for just over 3% of new cancer cases. However, it is an extremely deadly type of cancer, with a five-year survival rate of only 8.5%, according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End-of-Life Database. National Cancer Institute. In the United States, pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death, after lung cancer and colorectal cancer, and is expected to cause approximately 46,000 deaths in 2019.
"Pancreatic cancer rates have been steadily increasing since the early 2000s," said Eric J. Jacobs, PhD, lead author of the study, senior scientific director of epidemiology research at the University of Toronto. American Cancer Society in Atlanta. "We were disconcerted by this increase as smoking – a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer – is declining.
"The increase in weight in the US population is a likely suspect, but previous studies have shown that excess weight is related only to a relatively small increase in risk, which that does not seem important enough to fully explain the recent increases in pancreatic cancer rates, "said Jacobs. continued.
Jacobs, however, said that most of the previous studies on the link between weight and pancreatic cancer were based on measured weight in the elderly, which may be less informative, as it may reflect a build up of fat too late in life to influence the risk of pancreatic cancer during a pregnancy. typical life. In this study, researchers sought to find out if excess weight measured earlier in adulthood might be more strongly related to pancreatic cancer risk than excess weight measured at a older age.
The researchers examined data collected from 963,317 US adults with no history of cancer enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study of the American Cancer Society II, a national study of cancer mortality begun in 1982 and followed by participants until 2014. All participants reported their weight and size only once, at the beginning of the study, when some were 30 years old while others were between 70 and 80 years old. Researchers used this information to calculate body mbad index (BMI), a measure of weight-for-height, as an indicator of being overweight.
During the follow-up period, 8,354 participants died of pancreatic cancer. As expected, a higher BMI was badociated with an increased risk of death from pancreatic cancer, but this increase was greater for a BMI badessed at an earlier age. An increase of five BMI units, or about 32 pounds for an adult 5 feet and 7 inches, was badociated with a 25% increased risk in people whose BMI had been badessed between 30 and 49 years; 19% increase in risk among those badessed between 50 and 59; 14% increased risk for those aged 60 to 69; an increased risk of 13% among those badessed aged 70 to 89 years. Jacobs noted that although the study only contained information on pancreatic cancer deaths, the disease is almost always fatal and the results should be similar to those of new pancreas diagnoses. Cancer.
Jacobs said the study results indicate that being overweight could increase the risk of pancreatic cancer deaths more than expected. In addition, Jacobs noted that the new generations were reaching their early age with more overweight than previous generations.
Therefore, he predicts that excess weight will account for a greater proportion of the risk of pancreatic cancer in the future, as the younger and heavier generations reach the most advanced ages when pancreatic cancer usually occurs. For example, he estimates that 28% of pancreatic cancer deaths among Americans born between 1970 and 1974 will be attributable to being overweight, compared to only 15% of pancreatic cancer deaths among Americans born in the 1930s, a group much less likely to be obese at the beginning of middle age.
"Our results strongly suggest that, to stop and possibly reverse recent increases in pancreatic cancer rates, we will need to better prevent excessive weight gain in children and younger adults, a result that would also help prevent many more deaths. diseases, "said Jacobs. .
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This study was funded by the American Cancer Society. Jacobs does not declare any conflict of interest.
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