Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. 94% of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis – only 8% will survive more than five years. 74% of patients die within the first year of diagnosis.
Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly and is seldom detected in its early stages, which is a major reason why it’s a leading cause of cancer death.
Symptoms include abdominal or back pain, weight loss, yellowing of the skin and eyes, loss of appetite, nausea, changes in stool, diabetes and blood clots.
Smoking, age, diabetes, excess body weight and family history of the disease are risk factors.
The new study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, analyzed data from 11 clinical trials and 6,643 patients with cancer of pancreas.
For the study, researchers reviewed 11 studies and case reports on more than 6,000 patients, looking for a link between eating processed meats (like bacon and sausage) and cancer.
Their analysis suggests that for every 50 grams of processed meat a person eats per day — the equivalent of two slices of bacon or a link of sausage — their risk goes up 19 percent.
Those who eat 150 grams (three sausages or six strips of bacon) daily, their pancreatic cancer risk jumps 57 percent.
“ Pancreatic cancer has poor survival rates. So as well as diagnosing it early, it’s important to understand what can increase the risk of this disease,” study author Susanna Larsson, an epidemiologist at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, told BBC News.
The World Cancer Research Fund has advised people to completely avoid processed meat. Processed meats, including sausage, pepperoni, bacon, ham, smoked turkey, and hot dogs, often contain nitrates and nitrites, which have been tied to cancer.
The researchers also said smoking is a bigger risk factor, which increases pancreatic cancer risk by 74 percent.
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