- Young women with irregular periods may be at higher risk of developing and dying from cancer of ovary-later in life, researchers have found a 50- year study of women in California. The new research provides the first evidence linking the abnormally long periods or cycles missed at a higher risk of ovarian cancer. He also challenges a hypothesis long as the risk increased progressively with the total number of ovulations a woman.
Having fewer ovulatory cycles is widely regarded as a protective factor against ovarian cancer. It is why hormonal birth control pills, pregnancy and tubal ligations, which stop ovulation were thought to reduce the risk of this disease. "This study is certainly curious, because it contradicts what we thought we knew about ovarian cancer and the incessant ovulation," says Mitchell Maiman, an OB / GYN at Staten Island University Hospital in New York.
Although ovarian cancer accounts for only 3% of all cancers in women, it is the main cause of death from gynecological cancer. Less than half of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer survive more than 5 years. The first symptoms, including abdominal pain and bloating, often go unnoticed or are misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. Because there is no routine testing and some markers to identify groups at increased risk of ovarian cancers, most cases are when they are beyond the point of cure. Age is a risk factor for more than half of all ovarian cancers are diagnosed in women aged over 63. Heredity is another 10% to 15% of women diagnosed with cancer of the ovary have one or more genetic risk factors more known.
To identify other risk factors, epidemiologist Barbara Cohn, director of studies on the development of children's health from the Institute of Public Health and Oakland, California, and colleagues analyzed data from more than 15,000 women from California who enrolled in a study of pregnancy in 1959. This study sought to keep the risk of disease during the lifetime of the mothers and their children. Irregularities-defined as cycles lasting 35 days or a long-term history of rare or missed menstrual periods were reported at the beginning of the study, while the average age of the women was 26. About 13% of women reported irregular periods.
Over the next 50 years, 116 women developed ovarian cancer, 84 of them died. Women with a history of menstrual irregularities were almost twice as likely as women with normal periods to develop ovarian cancer and die from it by the age of 70. This link increases with age , the researchers report in the number of the month of International Journal of Cancer . For example, women with menstrual irregularities were about three times more likely to develop and die from ovarian cancer 77 years compared to women with normal periods. At that time, the risk of irregular periods was as great as the risk for women with a family history of the disease, said Cohn.
The researchers say it is likely that many women in the study who developed ovarian cancer also suffered from a hormonal disorder called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is often characterized by irregular or absent periods. But it is impossible to know for sure, because these diagnostic criteria were established after the beginning of the study. PCOS is a known risk factor for endometrial cancer, although previous studies on the link between PCOS and ovarian cancer were found results with a certain mixture pointing to an increased risk, some pointing reduced risk, and others turn up no significant association.
Maiman said the new study may guide future research not only about who is at risk for ovarian cancer, but who could benefit from screening efforts or prevention. "If validated it could give us another risk assessment factor for determining people at high risk where screening is prudent."
But the design of this type of research will require more answers grained several key questions, said Mia Gaudet, a cancer epidemiologist who is the strategic director of breast and cancer research gynecological cancer at the American Society in Atlanta. "Research is beginning to show that the characteristics of the menstrual cycle may be more important than the number. For example, were the heaviest periods that someone who was cycling regularly? A study designed today would ask different questions, "says Gaudet." [This is] a first step that deserves a closer look. "
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