Pancreatic Cancer Cases Increasing in Younger Women
May 16, 2023
Jacqueline Stevens said her body was showing signs that something was wrong before she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"I experienced severe fatigue that started in 2021. I would do a task and then I would get extremely exhausted. It would take me a day or two to recuperate, sometimes a week," Stevens said.
She was diagnosed with gastritis, but that wasn't what was going on.
"My urine turned brown, and then I knew that it was something wrong," Stevens said.
Her diagnosis came in April 2022 when she was 71. According to the American Cancer Society, 70 is the average age for a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
But a new study published in the medical journal Gastroenterology, shows the rates of the disease in women under the age of 55 rose 2.4 percent higher than the rates of the disease in men in the same age group.
According to Debashish Bose, M.D., PhD, FACS, Medical Director of Surgical Oncology at Mercy and The Center for Hepatobiliary Disease at Mercy, alcohol use and smoking are risk factors, as well as genetics.
"It may be because younger women are participating in the same risky exposures that men have always participated in, and, they're catching up," Bose said. "Younger people who should have a lower rate of cancer in general might develop a cancer as a result of inheriting some gene that causes them to have cancer earlier."
As for Stevens, she lost a lot of weight, became jaundiced and lost all her strength. She underwent what's known as a "Whipple procedure," or pancreaticoduodenectomy.
"I said, 'Did you get it all?' And, he said, 'Yes, we got it all,'" Stevens said.
One year later, she's feeling great.
"I feel like Simone Biles. I really feel good," Stevens said.
According to the American Cancer Society, additional risk factors for pancreatic cancer include:
- Diabetes, being overweight and family history.
- African Americans are slightly more likely to develop it than white people.
- Men are slightly more at risk than women.
About Mercy
Founded in 1874 in Downtown Baltimore by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Medical Center is a 183-licensed bed, acute care, university-affiliated teaching hospital. Mercy has been recognized as a high-performing Maryland hospital (U.S. News & World Report); has achieved an overall 5-Star quality, safety, and patient experience rating (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services); is A-rated for Hospital Safety (Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade); and is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet™ hospital. Mercy Health Services is a not-for-profit health system and the parent company of Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Personal Physicians.
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