(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Obesity may be bad for your health in an unexpected way. Research shows obese patients tend to have worse outcomes after pancreatic cancer surgery, including higher rates of recurrence, an increased risk of cancer spreading to lymph nodes and lower rates of survival.

The risks were identified for patients with a body mass index score greater than 35. Following surgery to remove part or all of the pancreas, obese patients were more likely to die after surgery, with a median survival time of 13.2 months, compared to 27.4 months for patients with a BMI below 23.

“Our findings … suggest that obesity is a host factor affecting tumor biology independent of the difficulties (patient- and treatment-related) involved in delivering oncologic care in obese patients,” study authors wrote.

SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, 2009;144:216-221