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Overview
According to a recent study, men with a history of periodontal disease could be at increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. This finding, presented at the 2006 Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Boston, received online news coverage from Reuters Health  1 and the American Association of Cancer Research , 2 which hosted the recent conference.
In this study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of San Juan, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute aimed to determine if periodontal disease or tooth loss may be related to pancreatic cancer. As noted by the research team, previous studies suggested a potential association between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer, but those studies could not discount the role of confounding factors such as smoking history.
To analyze this periodontal-systemic association further, the authors reviewed 16 years of health data on over 51,000 male health professionals, all between the ages of 40 and 75 years at the study’s inception in 1986. The data were compiled as part of the Health Professional Follow-Up Study, an ongoing evaluation of health factors that may be related to cancer and other diseases.
Over a 16-year follow-up period (between 1986 and 2002), 216 men developed pancreatic cancer. After adjusting for age, smoking history, diabetes, obesity, diet and other potentially confounding variables, the reviewers found that men with a history of periodontal disease had a 63 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer than men without a history of periodontal disease. While the prospective cohort study provides a long-term statistical association between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer, it does not establish a definitive cause-effect relationship between the two conditions.
Pancreatic cancer is often detected at an advanced stage, and is commonly linked with tobacco smoking, age, or family history. While the authors claimed that periodontal disease or tooth loss may increase pancreatic cancer risk through “plausible biological mechanisms,” further research is required to validate this association. The role that diabetes played in the results also requires further investigation, because diabetes is associated with both periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer.
Today, over 70 percent of the adult U.S. population has some form of periodontal disease. To maintain oral health and prevent periodontal disease, the ADA promotes the importance of good oral hygiene and regular dental care. The ADA also encourages dentists to take thorough health histories, evaluate patients for oral diseases, promote tobacco cessation, and identify risk factors that may predispose patients to periodontal disease.
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Footnotes
1 Rauscher M. Diseased gums raise risk of pancreatic cancer. Reuters Health, November 13, 2006. Available at: “http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_41202.html ”. Accessed November 27, 2006.
2 American Association for Cancer Research Fifth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. How diet, obesity and even gum disease may affect immune system and cancer (press release). November 13, 2006. Available at: “http://www.aacr.org/home/about-us/news.aspx?d=681 ”. Accessed November 27, 2006.
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Additional Resources
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Science in the News is a service by the American Dental Association (ADA) to present current information about science topics in the news. The ADA is a professional association of dentists committed to the public's oral health, ethics, science and professional advancement; leading a unified profession through initiatives in advocacy, education, research and the development of standards. As a science-based organization, the ADA's evaluation of the scientific evidence may change as more information becomes available. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Document Posted December 2006
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