Increased BMI and Height Tied to Ovarian Cancer Risk
04/16/2012
Research reported in the journal PLoS Medicine finds that a woman’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and height are both tied to her risk for ovarian cancer. Regardless of a woman’s height and size, her risk of developing ovarian cancer remains very small.
Researchers from the United Kingdom included data from more than 25,000 women with the disease and more than 81,000 women without it from 47 epidemiologic studies conducted in 14 countries. About half of the women were from Europe; the rest were from North America.
In developed countries, both height and body mass index have been increasing. If all other relevant factors are held constant (parity, use of birth control pills), then these increases in height and weight is associated with a 3% increase in ovarian cancer incidence per decade.