Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Pancreatic Cancer

Risk Factors

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 37,680 people in the United States will be found to have pancreatic cancer in 2008.

There are several known risk factors for pancreatic cancer, including age and gender. The disease is most common in persons over the age of 50 and is more common in men than women. A person has a greater chance of developing the pancreatic cancer if he or she:

smokes (as many as 30 percent of pancreatic cancers are caused by smoking)
eats a diet that is high in meats and fat
is very overweight
has diabetes
has chronic inflammation of the pancreas
has been exposed to certain chemicals and dyes
has a family history of the disease

This page was last updated on: October 5, 2009.

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