Obesity Linked To Elevated Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

A new epidemiological study has found that among women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy, obese women are at an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer compared with women of normal weight. The research indicates that obesity may contribute to the development of ovarian cancer through a hormonal mechanism.

Researchers noted that among women who had never taken hormones after menopause, obesity was associated with an almost 80 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer. In contrast, no link between body weight and ovarian cancer was evident for women who had ever used menopausal hormone therapy.

The research was conducted byDr. Michael F. Leitzmann of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues. They studied 94,525 U.S. women aged 50 to 71 years over a period of seven years.

Ovarian cancer is the most fatal of gynecologic malignancies, and has a 5-year survival rate of only 37 percent.