The Association Between Endometriosis and Ovarian Cancer

(April 21, 2017) Endometriosis, a condition where the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus, has been found to be associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer. The lives, habits, and medical histories of over 116,000 registered nurses were evaluated by the Nurses’ Health Study II for 18 years, the results of which were published in Cancer Causes & Control. The study compared self-reported cases of ovarian cancer, which is most common, and surgically confirmed cases of ovarian cancer with women who had no history of endometriosis. In both groups, self-reported and surgically confirmed, the risk of ovarian cancer increased, by 81% and 114%, respectively.

The authors added that, “this study adds to the evidence that endometriosis is not strongly linked to endometrial cancer risk and that the association with ovarian cancer is robust to misclassification, diagnostic delay, and changes in exposures post-endometriosis diagnosis.”

Although the study needs to be replicated, the results so far indicate that endometriosis is a reliable determinant for ovarian cancer risk association.

Read the article in Endometriosis News.