Time to ovarian cancer return not tied to BMI

Among women with primary epithelial ovarian cancer, the time to recurrence was no different between obese and non-obese patients, a retrospective study showed. Among patients from two centers, recurrence occurred in 47.9% of non-obese women and 37.7% of obese women (body mass index >30 kg/m2), and the time to recurrence was 15 months in both groups (P=1.0), according to Karina Hew, MD, of Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, and colleagues. In addition, progression-free survival (PFS) was not significantly different based on BMI (P=0.118), the researchers reported in an abstract ahead of the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting here. The researchers defined recurrence as a positive radiological or pathological diagnosis of cancer after the patient had surgery, received adjuvant chemotherapy, and did not have any clinical, radiological, or serological evidence of recurrence during treatment. Previous research examining the relationship between obesity and ovarian cancer has yielded mixed results, with some studies suggesting that obesity is associated with altered tumor biology and a worse prognosis. One study published last month showed that every 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI was associated with a 10% greater relative risk of having ovarian cancer (RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.13) among women who had never used hormone replacement therapy. Another study published last year, however, showed that BMI was not associated with overall epithelial ovarian cancer risk (RR 1.15, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.36), although obesity was significantly associated with the risk of endometrioid ovarian cancer (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.70). In terms of survival, a 2008 study showed that obese patients with epithelial ovarian cancer -- compared with non-obese patients -- had similar PFS (17 versus 11 months, P=0.14) and overall survival (48 versus 40 months, P=0.37) following primary cytoreductive surgery. In this current retrospective chart review, Hew and colleagues looked at the time to recurrence among patients diagnosed with primary epithelial ovarian cancer from 2004 to 2009 at Mercy Medical Center or the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Although 591 patients were diagnosed during the study period, only 370 were left for analysis after exclusions for persistent or progressive disease, treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, presence of synchronous tumors, or incomplete follow up. About one-third (35%) of the women were obese, and recurrence occurred after a similar length of time in both obese and non-obese women. Primary source: American Society of Clinical Oncology