BMI and Height Linked to Ovarian Cancer, Study Suggests

A new research from other published and unpublished studies found a link between ovarian cancer, height and body mass index.

A Group comprised of 100 researchers on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer at Oxford University, collaborated together, found that the risk of ovarian cancer is associated with increasing height and body mass index among women. These findings were significant since height and BMI in developing countries have been increasing by up to 1 cm and 1kg/m2 respectively every decade.
According to the group, the increase in height and weight would be associated with a 3 per cent increased risk of ovarian cancer each decade. But since the results were somehow gathered from incomplete information, the group collected more data from published and unpublished reports.

Altogether, they research gathered were 47 epidemiological studies from 14 different countries - a total of 25, 57 women with ovarian cancer and 81, 311 women without ovarian cancer.


The results were consistent, even taking into account, age, whether menopause or not, education, smoking status, alcohol consumption, use of oral contraceptives, having close relatives with ovarian and breast cancer and use of menopausal hormone therapy.

The risk of suffering from ovarian cancer increased per 5 cm increase in height. However, for BMI, the risk depended on whether the women had taken menopausal hormone therapy or not.

Findings showed that for every 5-point increase of BMI, ovarian cancer increased up to 10 per cent in women who had undergone menopausal hormone therapy.