Pancreatic cancer rates are rising faster among women than men, according to a new study by researchers from Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles, California.
The findings were published recently in the journal Gastroenterology.
Pancreatic cancer rates have been climbing for both genders — but women ages 55 and younger saw a 2.4% higher increase compared to men in the same age group.
Young Black women experienced a 2.23% higher increase than Black men of the same age.
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These findings may be surprising, given that the American Cancer Society (ACS) states on its website that the disease is more common in men.
Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers and 7% of all cancer deaths, per the ACS. It’s estimated that 33,130 men and 30,920 women will be diagnosed this year.
Researchers analyzed a database of cancer patients — specifically those who received pancreatic cancer diagnoses between 2001 and 2018.
“We can tell that the rate of pancreatic cancer among women is rising rapidly, which calls attention to the need for further research in this area,” said Dr. Srinivas Gaddam, lead author of the study and associate director of pancreatic biliary research at Cedars-Sinai, in a Feb. 10 press release published on the hospital’s website.
“There’s a need to understand these trends and to make changes today, so this doesn’t affect women disproportionately in the future.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the study’s lead authors for comment.
Dr. Michael Chuong, medical director of proton and photon therapy with Miami Cancer Institute in South Florida, was not involved in the study but was not surprised by its results.
“It has been known that the incidence of new pancreatic cancer diagnoses is increasing, and this study further adds to the understanding that this likely will continue for the foreseeable future, thus highlighting the importance of developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to this deadly disease,” he told Fox News Digital via email.
“While we’re reporting improving survival in pancreatic cancer each year, that improvement is largely among men,” Dr. Gaddam said in the press release.
“The mortality rate among women is not improving.”
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The increase in female pancreatic cancer rates is still relatively small, yet it does highlight the need for awareness and prevention through healthy behaviors.
Dr. Gaddam plans to continue researching pancreatic cancer trends to better understand the differing impacts on men and women, according to the press release.
The study did not pinpoint a clear reason for the increase in women’s diagnoses. However, researchers suggested a potential cause: a higher frequency of an aggressive type of tumor called pancreatic head adenocarcinoma, which has a low survival rate.
Dr. Dung Trinh, chief medical officer of Irvine Clinical Research and a physician with Memorial Care Medical Group in California, cited several possible reasons for pancreatic cancer rates rising in younger women.
H/T Fox News (read more at FoxNews.com)
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