What causes ovarian cancer?
-Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor.
-Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn’t mean that you will not get cancer.
Ovarian cancer risk factors
Risk factors for ovarian cancer include the following:
-Age over 55
-Family history of cancer
-Personal history of cancer
-Never pregnant
-Menopausal hormone therapy
-The risk of developing ovarian cancer gets higher with age
-Ovarian cancer is rare in women younger than 40
-Most ovarian cancers develop after menopause.
-Most women are over the age of 55 when diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
-Obese women (those with a body mass index of at least 30) have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
-A study from the American Cancer Society found a higher rate of death from ovarian cancer in obese women.
-The risk increased by 50% in the heaviest women.
-A woman who has had children has a lower risk of ovarian cancer than women who have no children.
-The risk goes down with each pregnancy.
-Breast feeding may lower the risk even further.
-Using oral contraceptives significantly lowers the risk of ovarian cancer if taken for longer than 5 years.
-Tubal ligation (having your "tubes tied") may reduce the chance of developing ovarian cancer by up to 67%.
-A hysterectomy (removing the uterus without removing the ovaries) also seems to reduce the risk of getting ovarian cancer by about one-third.
Estrogen therapy and hormone therapy
-Some recent studies suggest women using estrogens after menopause have an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.
-The risk seems to be higher in women taking estrogen alone (without progesterone) for many years (at least 5 or 10).
-The increased risk is less certain for women taking both estrogen and progesterone.
-Women who have a mother, daughter, or sister with ovarian cancer have an increased risk of the disease.
-Also, women with a family history of cancer of the breast, uterus, colon or rectum may also have an increased risk of ovarian cancer.u000bu000b
-If several women in a family have ovarian or breast cancer, especially at a young age, this is considered a strong family history
Personal history of cancer
-Women who have had cancer of the breast, uterus, colon, or rectum have a higher risk of ovarian cancer.
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