(Press-News.org) Copenhagen, Denmark: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are not at any greater risk of ovarian cancer than those without the common hormone condition, say researchers. However, those with PCOS who have been through the menopause are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
The data based on nearly two million women is presented today (Monday) at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) [1]. The research is also published simultaneously in the International Journal of Cancer [2].
This is the first large study of its kind, and the authors are calling for increased awareness when managing the health of patients with PCOS, which affects an estimated one in ten women.
Lead author Dr Clarissa Frandsen says the overall likelihood of women with PCOS developing ovarian cancer is low. However, she said clinical guidelines for managing the long-term health consequences for PCOS patients should include recommendations on their potential ovarian cancer risk.
The age-adjusted incidence rates [3] of ovarian cancer were 11.7 per 100 000 person-years and 13.2 per 100 000 person-years for women with and without PCOS, respectively.
Dr Frandsen, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen (Denmark), said: “Our results and those from previous studies should be taken into account when revising guidelines on how to manage the health of women with PCOS in the long term.
“Unfortunately, there is no effective screening for early detection of ovarian cancer. Both patients and clinicians will benefit from improved knowledge of the potential long-term health risks associated with PCOS.”
The immediate past chair of ESHRE, Dr Cristina Magli, laboratory director at SISMeR (The Italian Society for the Study of Reproductive Medicine) in Bologna (Italy), was not involved in the research. She said: “PCOS is a common but complex condition that represents a serious public health issue. It can affect a woman's chance of becoming pregnant and increase the odds of other diseases.
“The odds of women with PCOS being diagnosed with ovarian cancer are very low. But the more that is known about the risks, the better doctors are able to monitor patients, especially those post-menopause.”
Ovarian cancer is not as prevalent as breast cancer but is three times more deadly [4]. The analysis by the Danish Cancer Research Center and Herlev Hospital in Denmark focused on epithelial ovarian cancer. The disease starts in the surface of the ovary and accounts for the majority (90%) of ovarian tumours.
The study included all 1.7 million women born in Denmark between 1 January 1940 and 31 December 1993. Excluded from the study were those who emigrated, died, were diagnosed with cancer, or had undergone surgery to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes before the start of the study.
Details on diagnosis of PCOS and cancer and on migration were obtained from national registers. Additional analysis was carried out on women who had reached 51 years, which is the median/average age in Denmark for menopause.
Results showed that 6,490 women were diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer and 2,990 with borderline ovarian tumours during a median follow-up time of 26 years.
Overall, the study authors found the increased risk was not statistically significant for ovarian cancer and borderline ovarian tumours among women with PCOS compared to those without the condition. Other factors that can affect the risk of ovarian cancer were taken into account, including obesity and education levels.
However, the risk of developing ovarian cancer was significantly greater among postmenopausal women compared to those without PCOS.
In addition, the risk in general was more than double for a type of ovarian tumour known as serous borderline among PCOS patients. These abnormal cells are not classed as cancer but are not completely benign and studies show they can lead to ovarian cancer later on.
The study authors acknowledge that a limitation of their research is the low number of ovarian cancer cases despite the large study population. In their conference abstract, they say the data they used were ‘highly valid’ but that diagnosis of PCOS is challenging, and they were unable ‘to account for changes in diagnostic practices over time.’
The research did not examine why post-menopausal women were more likely to develop ovarian cancer. Dr Frandsen said PCOS is a complex condition but long-term exposure to potential cancer-causing factors could be behind the finding, such as excess production of male sex hormones.
(ends)
[1] Presentation no: O-012, “Risk of epithelial ovarian tumours among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): A nationwide population-based cohort study”, presented by Clarissa Frandsen, session 03: New Concepts: PCOS, Hall D3, 10.45 hrs CEST, Monday 26 June 2023.
[2] Clarissa L.B. Frandsen, Pernille F. Svendsen, Bugge Nøhr, Kakob H. Viuff, Thomas Maltesen, Susanne K. Kjær, Allan Jensen. “Risk of epithelial ovarian tumors among women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A nationwide population-based cohort study”. International Journal of Cancer. 2023;1-11. Doi: 10.1002/ijc.34574
[3] Age-adjusted incidence rates are those calculated if both the groups of women without PCOS and women with PCOS had the same age distribution. A total of 11.7 women without PCOS are likely to develop cancer for every 100,000 women, and 13.2 women with PCOS are likely to develop cancer for every 100,000 women, given the age distribution is the same in both groups.
[4] Yoneda A, Lendorf ME, Couchman JR, Multhaupt HA. “Breast and ovarian cancers: a survey and possible roles for the cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans”. J Histochem Cytochem. 2012;60(1):9–21. doi: 10.1369/0022155411428469
Notes for editors
According to the UK Academy of Medical Science’s press release labelling system, this is a peer-reviewed observational study in humans.
Funding: Danish Cancer Society Research Center (internal grant); Helsefonden, Grant/Award Number: 21-B-0261
When obtaining outside comment, journalists are requested to ensure that their contacts are aware of the embargo on this release.
For further information, contact:
Sophie Goodchild
Email: goodchildsophie@hotmail.com
Mobile: +44 (0)7767 325595
Emma Mason
Email: wordmason@mac.com
Mobile: +44 (0)7711 296986
Kerry Noble
Email: kerry_noble@hotmail.com
Mobile: +44 (0)7446 869 433
Laura Rossignoli at ESHRE
Email: Laura@eshre.eu
Mobile: +32 (0)499 92 32 49
The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) is a European non-profit organisation with international membership, whose main mission is to promote the study and research of reproductive science and medicine as well as the treatment of infertility. Established in 1984, the Society now comprises more than 9.000 members and has become the leading Society in reproductive science and medicine worldwide. Our members are medical professionals, scientists and researchers working in reproductive science, reproductive medicine and embryology. We work in close partnership with the patient organisation Fertility Europe. The ESHRE annual meeting attracts over 11,000 clinicians, researchers, scientists, exhibitors. In 2022, participants from 130 countries attended. Seven of the top ten countries represented were European.
END
Cancer risk among women with polycystic ovary syndrome doubles after menopause
2023-06-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Humans’ evolutionary relatives butchered one another 1.45 million years ago
2023-06-26
Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have identified the oldest decisive evidence of humans’ close evolutionary relatives butchering and likely eating one another.
In a new study published today, June 26, in Scientific Reports, National Museum of Natural History paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner and her co-authors describe nine cut marks on a 1.45 million-year-old left shin bone from a relative of Homo sapiens found in northern Kenya. Analysis of 3D models of the fossil’s surface revealed ...
Childhood cancer: Vulnerability in the immune response against metastases discovered
2023-06-26
Scientists led by Sabine Taschner-Mandl, PhD, St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, and Nikolaus Fortelny, PhD, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, are the first to analyze bone marrow metastases from childhood tumors of the nervous system using modern single-cell sequencing analysis. It turns out that cancer cells prevent cells in their environment from fighting the tumor – a process that could be reversed with medication. The findings were published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.
Neuroblastoma is the most ...
Novel study deepens knowledge of treatment-resistant hypertension
2023-06-26
For many patients with hypertension—an elevated blood pressure that can lead to stroke or heart attack—medication keeps the condition at bay. But what happens when medication that physicians usually prescribe doesn’t work? Known as apparent resistant hypertension (aRH), this form of high blood pressure requires more medication and medical management.
Novel research from investigators in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Hypertension, found that aRH prevalence was lower in ...
Progesterone decreases night sweats & improves sleep in perimenopausal women
2023-06-26
New controlled trial research documents that Progesterone (micronized, oral) is effective at decreasing night sweats and improving sleep in perimenopausal women who have menstruated in the last 1-year. Perimenopausal women most want treatment for these two symptoms.
Current guidelines prescribe Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) for disturbing hot flushes/flashes or night sweats (vasomotor symptoms, VMS) in all women younger than 60 years.
“This guideline assumes that hormone levels and symptoms are the same in the early years of ...
What are the endometrial cancer risks and trends among different African descent populations?
2023-06-26
Study reveals some distinctions between Black women in the US and the French Caribbean but increasing trends for aggressive forms in both regions.
Compared with white women, Black women have elevated risks of being diagnosed with advanced uterine cancer—also known as endometrial cancer—and of developing aggressive tumors. Researchers recently compared the incidence and trends for endometrial cancer, both overall and by subtype, between African descent women in Florida and women in the French Caribbean—specifically, the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The findings are published by Wiley online ...
Endometrial cancer risk and trends among distinct African-descent populations
2023-06-26
MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL 3:01 AM ET Monday, June 26, 2023) – Current evidence indicates Black women in the U.S. are at greater risk of developing advanced uterine cancer, also known as endometrial cancer, and of developing its more aggressive form – non-endometroid cancer – than white women.
But research to date has mostly studied Black women as a homogenous group, and there is limited data about specific African-descent subpopulations worldwide. That is until now.
A new study by researchers with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine compared both the overall incidence and trends for endometrial ...
New Orleans infection preventionists adapt adult protocols to reduce infections in babies
2023-06-26
Orlando, Fla., June 26, 2023 – Facing persistent cases of hospital-onset Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during the pandemic, the infection prevention and control (IPC) team at Children’s Hospital New Orleans developed an inexpensive nasal decolonization regimen previously used only in their adult patients that decreased rates of MRSA by 50 percent. Their results are being presented at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s (APIC’s) Annual Conference in Orlando Florida, June 26-28.
Without a lot of scientific literature on nasal decolonization in the pediatric population to guide them, Infection Preventionist ...
Neurosurgical infections drop more than 80% in two years at Pittsburgh hospital
2023-06-26
Neurosurgical Infections Drop More Than 80% in Two Years at Pittsburgh Hospital
Readmissions, patient satisfaction scores improve through infection preventionist-led, multidisciplinary collaboration
Orlando, Fla. June 26, 2023 – When excess surgical site infections (SSIs) were detected among neurosurgery patients at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Mercy in 2019, infection preventionist Katie Palladino, MPH, CPH, CIC, partnered with a hospital neurosurgeon on a multidisciplinary quality and process improvement initiative that ...
Collect race, Indigenous identity on health card renewal to address health inequities
2023-06-26
To address health inequities that Indigenous and racialized patients can experience, collect data on racial and Indigenous identity at health card application and renewal, suggests a group of authors in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221587.
"Although race is a social construct that uses perceived physical differences to create and maintain power differentials and the existence of discrete racial groups has not been shown to have any biological basis, perceived race influences how people are treated by individuals and institutions," ...
Report reveals return on investments in Global Biodiversity Information Facility
2023-06-26
Every €1 invested in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility provides €3 in direct benefits to users and up to €12 in societal benefits, according to the the first economic valuation of GBIF's network, infrastructure and services. This finding is one of several insights outlined in the report, Economic valuation and assessment of the impact of the GBIF network, prepared and published by Deloitte Access Economics.
The Deloitte team of economists applied multiple analytical methods to produce this estimate, comparing and combining the results to quantify the total ...