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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's no secret that obesity puts people at risk for a wide range of health conditions, including breast, uterine, and colorectal cancers. Now, there's another one to add to the list. A new study reveals a link between obesity and more aggressive ovarian cancer.
According to background information in the study, one in 60 women will develop ovarian cancer and most will be diagnosed with advanced stage disease. Women who are obese are known to have worse outcomes than their normal weight counterparts. Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles hypothesized that the difference is due to a more aggressive tumor upon development.
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Researchers led by Andrew Li, M.D., compared the data from 216 women with ovarian cancer. Of the women in the study, 35 were considered obese while the others were ideal-weight.
They found obese women were more likely to have their disease localized, but the obese women were also more likely to experience a recurrence and experienced increased mortality. Researchers also detected a difference in the tumors on a cellular level.
The difference, says Dr. Li, could be a hormone or protein excreted by fat tissue that causes ovarian cancer cells to grow more aggressively. He says further research is needed to confirm this and to look more closely at the biological mechanisms that affect ovarian tumor growth.
Over the past decade, obesity has become a growing problem in the United States. Today, more than 30 percent of adults are considered obese.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Cancer, published online Aug. 29, 2006
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