The effect of body mass index and weight change on epithelial ovarian cancer survival in younger women: a long-term follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and epithelial ovarian cancer survival among young women.


METHODS
We conducted a cohort analysis of 425 women aged 20-54 years with incident epithelial ovarian cancer enrolled during 1980-1982 in Cancer and Steroid Hormone (CASH), a population-based, case-control study. Participants' vital status was ascertained though linkage with the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between survival and usual adult BMI, BMI at age 18, and weight change from age 18 to adult.


RESULTS
During a follow-up of up to 17 years, 215 women died. Compared to women with an adult BMI in the lowest quartile (<20.7), women in the second (20.8-22.5), third (22.6-24.9), and fourth (≥25.0) quartiles were not at increased risk for death (HR 1.2, 95% CI 0.8-1.8; HR 1.1, 95% CI 0.7-1.6; and HR 0.9, 95% CI 0.6-1.4, respectively) (p trend=0.6). Similarly, neither age 18 BMI nor weight change were associated with ovarian cancer survival.


CONCLUSIONS
Although elevated BMI is associated with increased ovarian cancer risk among young women, we found no evidence of its association with ovarian cancer survival in this population.
Epidemic Intelligence Service, Career Development Division, Office of Workforce and Career Development, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA. ctyler@cdc.gov
Crystal P
CP
Tyler
Maura K
MK
Whiteman
Lauren B
LB
Zapata
Susan D
SD
Hillis
Kathryn M
KM
Curtis
Jill
J
McDonald
Phyllis A
PA
Wingo
Aniket
A
Kulkarni
Polly A
PA
Marchbanks
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017584:Reproductive History; D018426:SEER Program; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology