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Gestational weight gain and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the association between (GWG) and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Methods

We compared GWG between 670 incident EOC cases and 1,551 community controls from a population-based, case–control study conducted in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York from 2003 to 2008. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associated with GWG adjusting for potential confounders. To explore the potential effect of maternal long-term weight retention after childbearing, we restricted analyses to women who began their childbearing years as normal/underweight and examined differences in EOC risk between those who were normal/underweight versus those who were overweight/obese at study baseline reference date.

Results

Average GWG per full-term pregnancy did not differ between cases and controls. Among women who were normal/underweight at study baseline, greater average GWG was not associated with EOC (OR = 0.9, 0.8, 0.7 for quartiles 2, 3 and 4 of GWG gain, respectively, compared to quartile 1). In contrast, among women who were overweight/obese at study baseline, greater average GWG was positively associated with EOC (OR = 1.4, 1.8, 1.2, for quartiles 2, 3, and 4 compared to quartile 1; interaction p = 0.04).

Conclusion

We posit that maternal post-partum weight retention and not gestational weight gain itself among normal/underweight women may impact subsequent risk of EOC. If our hypothesis is supported in other studies designed to assess this question directly, then counseling women on the importance of healthy weight management after a pregnancy could provide another means to help women reduce their risk of this often-fatal malignancy.

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Data availability

Data are available upon request from the senior author.

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Funding

This work supported by National Cancer Institute (K07-CA80668, R01CA095023); the Department of Defense (DAMD17-02-1-0669); and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Dean’s Faculty Advancement Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Zhuxuan Fu

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Joseph L. Kelley & Robert P. Edwards

  3. Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Kunle Odunsi & Kirsten Moysich

  4. Womens Cancer Research Program, Magee-Womens Research Institute and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Francesmary Modugno

  5. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Suite 2130, 300 Halket Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Francesmary Modugno

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  1. Zhuxuan Fu
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  2. Joseph L. Kelley
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  6. Francesmary Modugno
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Correspondence to Francesmary Modugno.

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No competing financial interests exist.

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from all hospitals from which cases were identified and from the University of Pittsburgh.

Informed consent All women provide written informed consent for participation in this study.

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Fu, Z., Kelley, J.L., Odunsi, K. et al. Gestational weight gain and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. Cancer Causes Control 32, 537–545 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01405-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01405-5

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