Young men who suffer appendicitis are up to NINE TIMES more at risk of prostate cancer

Young men who suffer appendicitis before the age of 20 are up to nine times more likely to get prostate cancer later in life, a study shows.

Scientists found the painful infection dramatically increases the chances of being diagnosed with a fatal form of the disease.

According to The Daily Mail, up to 40,000 men and women a year in the UK have their appendix removed by surgeons due to painful inflammation.

The study, by scientists at Orebro University in Sweden, is one of the first to highlight the potential risk of a tumour in males whose appendix becomes inflamed.

Appendicitis is either due to repeat infections that cause abdominal pain and nausea, or acute infections, where the pain erupts within hours.

It is usually caused by an infection that has spread from elsewhere, such as the stomach.

The organ itself is a small, worm-like pouch, about two to four inches long, which is located on the right side of the tummy.

It was long thought to play no obvious useful role in the human body.

But in recent years, evidence has emerged that it may help to fight infection and keep the immune system healthy.

The Swedish team studied more than 240,000 18-year-olds who signed up for military service over several decades.

As part of the process, records were kept of how many had been ill with appendicitis – or had their appendix removed - before joining up.

The volunteers were then tracked for nearly 40 years to see how many went on to develop prostate cancer later in life.

The results, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, revealed just under 1,700 of the men developed a tumour when they got older.

The scientists found those who had been ill with appendicitis as youngsters were 70 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer overall.

But when they looked at how many were diagnosed with advanced cancer that had spread to other parts of the body, they found appendicitis sufferers were four times more at risk.

And among those that died from their tumours, the risk was almost nine times greater.

Scientists are not sure why an inflamed appendix might be linked with cancer years later.

But one theory is that being ill with appendicitis as a child leads to years of low-level inflammation in the body that provides the right environment for cancer cells to grow.

Previous research has found, for example, that a woman is more likely to be able to fall pregnant if she has had her appendix removed.

The reason is thought to be that a grumbling appendix leads to constant, low-level inflammation that makes it harder for embryos to implant in the womb.

In a report on the findings researchers said: 'These results suggest a diagnosis of appendicitis before adulthood signals underlying immune characteristics – as a pattern of inflammatory response – that is relevant to prostate cancer risk.

'This is another area of investigation potentially relevant to tumour development.'

Prostate cancer kills almost 12,000 men a year in the UK.

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