(May 2, 2016) Research published last month in the International Journal of Cancer showed an unexpected finding: young women with irregular menstrual periods may be at higher risk of developing—and dying from—ovarian cancer later in life. The study provides the first evidence linking abnormally long cycles or missed periods to higher ovarian cancer risk. It also challenges a longstanding hypothesis that such risk rises progressively with a woman’s total number of ovulations.
While these findings do not suggest that every woman with irregular bleeding has an increased risk of getting ovarian cancer, the findings offer new avenues for research into what causes ovarian cancer.
Read the abstract in International Journal of Cancer; and read an NBC News article about this research.
