Serious Causes And Risk Factors Of Pancreatic Cancer

Diabetes

An individual who has diabetes may also be affected by an early stage of pancreatic cancer. Type 2 diabetes develops when the cells of the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin, or the insulin they do produce does not function properly. Pancreatic cancer develops in the body when a cell in the pancreatic tissues experiences a mutation in its DNA that causes it to grow and reproduce more rapidly than healthy cells do. As a malignant tumor forms in the pancreas from these rapidly growing and dividing cells, the tissues of the pancreas can begin to malfunction. One of the first signs of malfunction of the pancreas is an individual's inability to manage their blood glucose without medical intervention. An individual who has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is at a greater risk of having pancreatic cancer that is causing their pancreas to malfunction than someone who has had diabetes for some time.

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Age And Gender

Individuals who are of certain ages and gender are at a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than others. The development of pancreatic cancer in an individual younger than forty-five years old is rare. As an individual exceeds their fifth decade of life, the risk of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age in a linear fashion. The median age of individuals affected by pancreatic cancer at diagnosis is sixty-three years old. The development of pancreatic cancer is more common among men than it is among women. The gender discrepancy in terms of pancreatic cancer risk is attributed to the fact men are more likely to consume excessive amounts of alcohol and develop chronic pancreatitis, are more likely to become obese and develop type 2 diabetes, and more likely to be heavy smokers. Other genetic factors may attribute to the higher incidence of pancreatic cancer in men.

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