Taller Women Are At Greater Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

Tall women are at greater risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to a report. Oxford university researchers have found that women who are tall have more chances of getting ovarian cancer.

Researchers had analysed data of 25,000 women with ovarian cancer and more than 80,000 women without cancer at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford. They found a seven per cent increase in the risk of developing ovarian cancer for every 5 cm increase in height. For example, 165 cm-tall women have a 14 per cent greater risk of ovarian cancer than those who are 155 cm.

"The fact that height is clearly associated with risk may well be important for understanding how ovarian cancer develops," said Dr Gillian Reeves, researchers at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University.

Researchers also found a similar link between body fat and ovarian cancer: women who are fat are likely to develop ovarian cancer, though this effect depends on whether women have used hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or not.

Hormone replacement therapy is a treatment for women who have reached menopause. The therapy replaces the estrogen and progesterone hormones that are lost after menopause. The treatment that came into vogue in the mid-1990's, is one of the most commonly prescribed treatments in the US.

Researchers believe that women who are not taking HRT have more chances of becoming fat and getting ovarian cancer. They found that women who have never used HRT showed a 10 per cent increase in relative risk of ovarian cancer for every 5 kg/m2 rise in BMI.

"These results show that in women who are not taking HRT, ovarian cancer risk increases steadily with increasing BMI. These results relate only to the effect of body size on ovarian cancer risk and do not provide any relevant information about advice on HRT use," said Reeves.

However, another study says that HRT increases risk of getting breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.