UC Irvine

Background

Previous studies on the association between reproductive factors and ovarian cancer survival are equivocal, possibly due to small sample sizes.

Methods

Using data on 11,175 people diagnosed with primary invasive epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer (ovarian cancer) from 16 studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), we examined the associations between survival and age at menarche, combined oral contraceptive use, parity, breastfeeding, age at last pregnancy, and menopausal status using Cox proportional hazard models. The models were adjusted for age at diagnosis, race/ethnicity, education level, and OCAC study and stratified on stage and histotype.

Results

During the mean follow-up of 6.34 years (SD = 4.80), 6,418 patients passed away (57.4%). There was no evidence of associations between the reproductive factors and survival among patients with ovarian cancer overall or by histotype.

Conclusions

This study found no association between reproductive factors and survival after an ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Impact

Reproductive factors are well-established risk factors for ovarian cancer, but they are not associated with survival after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer.