TY - JOUR

T1 - Obesity and risk of ovarian cancer subtypes

T2 - evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

AU - Olsen, Catherine M

AU - Nagle, Christina M

AU - Whiteman, David C

AU - Ness, Roberta

AU - Pearce, Celeste Leigh

AU - Pike, Malcolm C

AU - Rossing, Mary Anne

AU - Terry, Kathryn L

AU - Wu, Anna H

AU - Risch, Harvey A

AU - Yu, Herbert

AU - Doherty, Jennifer A

AU - Chang-Claude, Jenny

AU - Hein, Rebecca

AU - Nickels, Stefan

AU - Wang-Gohrke, Shan

AU - Goodman, Marc T

AU - Carney, Michael E

AU - Matsuno, Rayna K

AU - Lurie, Galina

AU - Moysich, Kirsten

AU - Kjaer, Susanne K

AU - Jensen, Allan

AU - Hogdall, Estrid

AU - Goode, Ellen L

AU - Fridley, Brooke L

AU - Vierkant, Robert A

AU - Larson, Melissa C

AU - Schildkraut, Joellen

AU - Hoyo, Cathrine

AU - Moorman, Patricia

AU - Weber, Rachel P

AU - Cramer, Daniel W

AU - Vitonis, Allison F

AU - Bandera, Elisa V

AU - Olson, Sara H

AU - Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Lorna

AU - King, Melony

AU - Brinton, Louise A

AU - Yang, Hannah

AU - Garcia-Closas, Montserrat

AU - Lissowska, Jolanta

AU - Anton-Culver, Hoda

AU - Ziogas, Argyrios

AU - Gayther, Simon A

AU - Ramus, Susan J

AU - Menon, Usha

AU - Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra

AU - Webb, Penelope M

AU - Cancer), Australian Cancer Study (Ovarian

PY - 2013/4/1

Y1 - 2013/4/1

N2 - Whilst previous studies have reported that higher BMI increases a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer, associations for the different histological subtypes have not been well defined. As the prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically, and classification of ovarian histology has improved in the last decade, we sought to examine the association in a pooled analysis of recent studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We evaluated the association between BMI (recent, maximum and in young adulthood) and ovarian cancer risk using original data from 15 case–control studies (13 548 cases and 17 913 controls). We combined study-specific adjusted odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effects model. We further examined the associations by histological subtype, menopausal status and post-menopausal hormone use. High BMI (all time-points) was associated with increased risk. This was most pronounced for borderline serous (recent BMI: pooled OR=1.24 per 5 kg/m2; 95% CI 1.18–1.30), invasive endometrioid (1.17; 1.11–1.23) and invasive mucinous (1.19; 1.06–1.32) tumours. There was no association with serous invasive cancer overall (0.98; 0.94–1.02), but increased risks for low-grade serous invasive tumours (1.13, 1.03–1.25) and in pre-menopausal women (1.11; 1.04–1.18). Among post-menopausal women, the associations did not differ between hormone replacement therapy users and non-users. Whilst obesity appears to increase risk of the less common histological subtypes of ovarian cancer, it does not increase risk of high-grade invasive serous cancers, and reducing BMI is therefore unlikely to prevent the majority of ovarian cancer deaths. Other modifiable factors must be identified to control this disease.

AB - Whilst previous studies have reported that higher BMI increases a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer, associations for the different histological subtypes have not been well defined. As the prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically, and classification of ovarian histology has improved in the last decade, we sought to examine the association in a pooled analysis of recent studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We evaluated the association between BMI (recent, maximum and in young adulthood) and ovarian cancer risk using original data from 15 case–control studies (13 548 cases and 17 913 controls). We combined study-specific adjusted odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effects model. We further examined the associations by histological subtype, menopausal status and post-menopausal hormone use. High BMI (all time-points) was associated with increased risk. This was most pronounced for borderline serous (recent BMI: pooled OR=1.24 per 5 kg/m2; 95% CI 1.18–1.30), invasive endometrioid (1.17; 1.11–1.23) and invasive mucinous (1.19; 1.06–1.32) tumours. There was no association with serous invasive cancer overall (0.98; 0.94–1.02), but increased risks for low-grade serous invasive tumours (1.13, 1.03–1.25) and in pre-menopausal women (1.11; 1.04–1.18). Among post-menopausal women, the associations did not differ between hormone replacement therapy users and non-users. Whilst obesity appears to increase risk of the less common histological subtypes of ovarian cancer, it does not increase risk of high-grade invasive serous cancers, and reducing BMI is therefore unlikely to prevent the majority of ovarian cancer deaths. Other modifiable factors must be identified to control this disease.

KW - Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

KW - ovarian cancer

KW - obesity

KW - BMI

U2 - 10.1530/ERC-12-0395

DO - 10.1530/ERC-12-0395

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 23404857

VL - 20

SP - 251

EP - 262

JO - Endocrine - Related Cancer

JF - Endocrine - Related Cancer

SN - 1351-0088

IS - 2

ER -