TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Obesity May Increase Risk For Ovarian Cancer

ADVERTISEMENT

@tampatrib.com

Published: March 14, 2009

Women who are severely overweight face an increased risk for endometrial cancer and post-menopausal breast cancer.

But are they also more likely than normal-weight women to develop ovarian cancer?

A recent study in the online journal Cancer analyzed data on 94,525 women who averaged about 62 years old at the start of the study.

About a third were overweight, a fourth were obese. In a seven-year span, ovarian cancer was diagnosed in 303 of the women. Among those who had never taken hormone therapy after menopause, obese women were 80 percent more likely to have ovarian cancer than were normal-weight women.

No relationship between weight and ovarian cancer was found in women who had taken menopausal hormones at some point.

Ovarian cancer, which most often affects women 55 and older, has a five-year survival rate of just 45 percent. That's because it often is not detected until it has spread beyond the ovary.

Some caveats: Women in the study reported their own weights. Nearly all participants were white; whether the findings apply to other races is unclear.

For more about ovarian cancer, go to www.cancer.org and www.cancer .gov.

The Washington Post

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT