Obese women are 70% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer

Obese women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach are 70% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, according to a study published on-line by the British Journal of Cancer.

A team of researchers followed over 138,000 post-menopausal women in the USA for over seven years to investigate the effects of obesity on pancreatic cancer as a part of the Women's Health Initiative. 251 women in the study developed pancreatic cancer. Of these, 78 were in the group with highest the waist-to-hip ratios. This is 70% more (after adjusting for other potential risk factors including age and smoking status) than the 34 women with the lowest waist-to-hip ratios who went on to develop the disease.

Lead author Juhua Luo, based at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said: "we found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was significantly raised in obese post-menopausal women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach. Obesity is a growing and largely preventable problem, so it's important that women are aware of this major increase in risk."