Pancreatic Cancer Risk Factors
Although the
following conditions are suspected, pancreatic cancer can occur in absence of all known risk factors:
- Obesity - being obese increases the risk of all cancers,
including pancreatic cancer
- Age – pancreatic cancer is more common among people in
their sixties
- Gender - pancreatic cancer affects slightly more men than
women.
- Race - African-American are more victim of pancreatic
cancer than whites are.
- Smoking
-
cigarette smoke (including second hand smoke) increases your risk of developing pancreatic cancer; In fact,
pancreatic cancer is two to three times more common among smokers.
- Unhealthy diet – consuming diets low in vegetables and fruits and
high in red meat and saturated fats puts you at increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
- Heavy consumption of alcohol
- chronic and excessive consumption of
alcohol is a serious risk factor for pancreatic cancer.
- Certain diseases - diabetes mellitus, gingivitis or periodontal
disease are shown to be associated with some cases of pancreatic cancer.
- Chronic pancreatitis - the risk of pancreatic cancer in individuals with
familial pancreatitis is particularly high.
- Infection
– certain infection such as
helicobacter pylori infection is
suspected in the formation of cancerous cells in the pancreas.
- Family history - about 10% of pancreatic cancers have a hereditary
connection. Some family history of genetic syndromes that have been associated with pancreatic cancer
include:
1)
hereditary non-polyposis colon
cancer, also called
Lynch syndrome
2)
familial
adenomatous
polyposis (FAP), an inherited disorder characterized by presence of
malignant tumor in the large intestine (colon) and rectum
3)
hereditary
intestinal polyposis syndrome, a
rare autosomal dominant genetic disease characterized by the development of benign hamartomatous polyps in the
gastrointestinal tract and change in epidermis color of the lips and oral mucosa
4)
Autosomal recessive ataxia-telangiectasia and
autosomal dominantly inherited mutations in the BRCA2 gene and PALB2 gene
.
Pancreatic Cancer
Causes
Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms
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