Link between obesity and ovarian cancer severity uncovered

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Women who are obese tend to have a worse outcome with ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer typically has a poor outcome, because it tends to be diagnosed late. Now researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center reveal how obesity can worsen that outcome. They looked at data from 216 patients of whom 35 were classed as obese. The survival rates and time to recurrence were both less among obese women compared with normal weight women. The cellular characteristics of the ovarian cancer were also different between the two groups.

The researchers think that fat tissue may secrete substances that make ovarian cancer cells grow more aggressively. The study adds to previous work which shows that obesity is also a factor in the development and outcome of breast, uterine and colorectal cancers. Further work is now needed to determine just how obesity affects the progression of ovarian cancer.

Source
Cancer online 28th August 2006