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Link Found Between Obesity and Aggressive Ovarian Cancer

Weight may play a large role in survival after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, say researchers.

While previous studies have found that obesity may increase one’s risk of ovarian cancer, it seems that women who are obese when they are diagnosed with ovarian cancer are also more likely to have a more aggressive form of the disease. As ovarian cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, this information may lead to a better understanding of how cancer cells in the ovary function.

Ovarian cancer affects one in 60 women in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. Because it tends to go unnoticed for a long time, most women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer when it is at an advanced stage, making ovarian cancer so dangerous. Only 30 percent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer survive beyond five years.

But researchers are making strides in trying to determine what causes some ovarian cancers to be so aggressive.

Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical center looked at data from 216 women with ovarian cancer. Within this group, 35 were considered obese, meaning they had a BMI over 30, and 108 were of a more ideal weight. Comparing the two groups, those who were obese had significant differences in the type of tumors found in the ovary, which led to a higher rate of recurrence and mortality for this group.

“This study is the first to identify weight as an independent factor in ovarian cancer in disease progression and overall survival,” said Dr. Andrew Li, lead study author.

In fact, Li found that for every 1 excess unit of BMI, a woman’s risk of dying from ovarian cancer increases by 5 percent.

“That means a woman who is 5 units of BMI over normal weight has a 25 percent greater chance of dying from this disease,” said Li.

All of the women in the study received an appropriate treatment, and while a few may not have been given a large enough dose of chemotherapy for their weight, Li does not think this small problem would lead to this large of a risk factor. In fact, he believes that there is some compound in fat itself that may influence ovarian cancer cells. “The next steps will be to examine this relationship more closely,” added Li.

For now, this study offers one more reason for obese women to try to drop some pounds.

“Obesity contributes to so many diseases, this is just another reason for women to lead a healthy life,” said Li.