Height, body mass index, and ovarian cancer: a pooled analysis of 12 cohort studies.
BACKGROUND
Although many studies have investigated the association between anthropometry and ovarian cancer risk, results have been inconsistent.


METHODS
The associations of height, body mass index (BMI), and ovarian cancer risk were examined in a pooled analysis of primary data from 12 prospective cohort studies from North America and Europe. The study population consisted of 531,583 women among whom 2,036 epithelial ovarian cancer cases were identified. To summarize associations, study-specific relative risks (RR) were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model and then combined using a random-effects model.


RESULTS
Women with height > or =1.70 m had a pooled multivariate RR of 1.38 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.16-1.65] compared with those with height <1.60 m. For the same comparison, multivariate RRs were 1.79 (95% CI, 1.07-3.00) for premenopausal and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.04-1.49) for postmenopausal ovarian cancer (P(interaction) = 0.14). The multivariate RR for women with a BMI > or =30 kg/m(2) was 1.03 (95% CI, 0.86-1.22) compared with women with a BMI from 18.5 to 23 kg/m(2). For the same comparison, multivariate RRs were 1.72 (95% CI, 1.02-2.89) for premenopausal and 1.07 (95% CI, 0.87-1.33) for postmenopausal women (P(interaction) = 0.07). There was no statistically significant heterogeneity between studies with respect to height or BMI. BMI in early adulthood was not associated with ovarian cancer risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Height was associated with an increased ovarian cancer risk, especially in premenopausal women. BMI was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in postmenopausal women but was positively associated with risk in premenopausal women.
Schouten
Leo J
LJ
Department of Epidemiology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. lj.schouten@epid.unimaas.nl
Rivera
Christine
C
Hunter
David J
DJ
Spiegelman
Donna
D
Adami
Hans-Olov
HO
Arslan
Alan
A
Beeson
W Lawrence
WL
van den Brandt
Piet A
PA
Buring
Julie E
JE
Folsom
Aaron R
AR
Fraser
Gary E
GE
Freudenheim
Jo L
JL
Goldbohm
R Alexandra
RA
Hankinson
Susan E
SE
Lacey
James V
JV
Leitzmann
Michael
M
Lukanova
Annekatrin
A
Marshall
James R
JR
Miller
Anthony B
AB
Patel
Alpa V
AV
Rodriguez
Carmen
C
Rohan
Thomas E
TE
Ross
Julie A
JA
Wolk
Alicja
A
Zhang
Shumin M
SM
Smith-Warner
Stephanie A
SA
D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk