Obesity, Height linked to Ovarian Cancer Deaths

[Guest guest]

I just thought you " CR chicks " who need a further impetus to get " hip

to the CR game " would like to hear about this...........

[slim up, especially if you are tall!]

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Obesity And Height Linked to Ovarian Cancer Deaths

September 10, 2002 07:35:20 AM PST, ACS News Today

Women who are either obese or very tall are more likely to die of

ovarian cancer than their shorter, slimmer peers, according to a

report in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention

(Vol. 11, No. 9).

In this new study, researchers wanted to look at the relationship

between obesity and height and ovarian cancer. They took information

gathered from women who have participated in the ACS Cancer

Prevention Study II.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates for 2002,

about 23,300 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 13,900

will die of this disease.

Information Gathered From Large Study

This large, ongoing prevention study has tracked the health of about

1.2 million men and women since 1982. When participants began this

study, they answered questions about their personal and family

history of cancer, their physical characteristics, and possible

environmental and dietary exposures.

In looking at the risk of dying from ovarian cancer, Carmen

, MD, senior epidemiologist, and her colleagues from the

ACS, examined the information provided by the women who had died of

ovarian cancer and compared them with the women who did not die from

the disease. For this study, they excluded women who were pre-

menopausal or had had a hysterectomy or oophorectomy (surgical

removal of the ovaries).

The researchers found that the women who died of ovarian cancer were

more likely to be obese. For example, a woman 5 feet 4 inches tall is

considered overweight if she weighs between 143 to 173 pounds and

obese if she weighs 174 pounds or more, said.

Obesity increased the risk of dying of ovarian cancer by 25% over

women of normal weight.

They also found that very tall women were more likely to die of this

cancer. Women who were 5 foot 9 inches and taller were 41% more

likely to die of ovarian cancer than shorter women.

Obesity Or Height Associated With High Hormone Levels

proposed two explanations of the results. The first is that

obesity causes the ovarian cancer deaths because obese women make

higher amounts of the female hormone, estrogen. Fat cells are an

important source of estrogens in postmenopausal women.

In an earlier study, the ACS researchers had already shown women who

take estrogens after menopause have a higher risk of dying of ovarian

cancer. And, in a study reported in July in the Journal of the

American Medical Association, researchers reported that there was an

increased risk of cancer of the ovary in women who said they had used

estrogens compared to women who never used any hormones.

The second explanation involves another hormone insulin-like growth

factor. This hormone has been involved in other hormone-dependent

cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. It is elevated in obese

people. Because these growth factors are also responsible for height,

this explanation accounts for both of the risk factors, height and

obesity.

But cautioned that the relationship between obesity and

height and ovarian cancer needs more scrutiny. Because this recent

study used self-reported information on weight and height, this

information may be inaccurate, she said.

Also, estrogens or insulin-like growth factor were not measured, so

they don't know if these are really the reasons for their results.

But the important message is one that has become more evident in the

last few years: obesity may be a major cause of some cancers,

particularly those that may be hormone dependent such as breast,

uterus and now, ovarian, said .

" Results of this study emphasize once again the need for women to

maintain a healthy weight throughout their life, " she said.