Obesity in young adults can lead to pancreatic cancer

Obesity in early adulthood is associated with greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer later in life, a new study found.

The study, led by University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center scientists, showed people who were overweight between the ages of 14 and 19 years were 60 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who were of normal weight.

People who were obese in their 20s and 30s were two or three times more likely to acquire the deadly malignancy, the study found.

Donghui Li, lead author of the study, and colleagues also found that people who were overweight or obese at the time of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer survived for approximately 12 months. Those who had a normal body weight survived for about 18 months.

But the same study also found that adults who became obese or overweight in ther 50s were not at significantly higher risk for the cancer compared to those who had a normal body weight.

The study involved 841 pancreatic cancer patients and 754 healthy people.

Pancreatic cancer is expected to be diagnosed in more than 45,000 people and kills 35,000 within five years of diagnosis each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Less than 5 percent of the patients could live more than 5 years.

(David Liu and edited by Sheilah Downey)