BOSTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said Tuesday they have identified a link between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer.
Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston found that periodontal disease was associated with a higher risk of the deadly disease, one of the most lethal forms of cancer.
Using data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study -- which includes 51,529 U.S. men working in the health professions who respond to questionnaires about their health every two years -- the researchers confirmed 216 cases of pancreatic cancer between 1986 and 2002.
Of those patients with pancreatic cancer, 67 reported also having periodontal disease.
The researchers then adjusted for age, smoking, diabetes, body mass index and a number of other factors, and found that men with periodontal disease had a 63-percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with those without periodontal disease.
"Our study provides the first strong evidence that periodontal disease may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer," said lead author Dominique Michaud, assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard. "This finding is of significance as it may provide some new insights into the mechanism of this highly fatal disease."
The study will appear in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
