Incessant Ovulation and Ovarian Cancer: A Critical Approach

The total duration of 'ovulatory activity' or 'ovulatory age' has been reported to be the strongest indicator of the risk of ovarian cancer. In the case-control study examined in this paper this variable was found to be a strong correlate of the risk of ovarian cancer. However, the finding that in older women the major determinant of 'ovulatory age' was age at menopause (which is a very unreliable indicator of 'ovarian activity'), and that age at menopause by itself was related to the risk of ovarian cancer as strongly as the total duration of ovulatory age, threw doubt on the biological consistency of that model. Furthermore, the protection conferred by pregnancies was different at different ages, and age at first pregnancy was more strongly associated with the risk of ovarian cancer than the actual number of pregnancies. The model of carcinogenesis for epithelial ovarian cancer appears, therefore, to be more complex than is indicated simply by the total duration of 'ovarian activity.'

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Publication Info

DOI: 10.1093/ije/12.2.161
Year: 1983
Published: —
Language: en

Article Details

Volume: 12
Issue: 2
Link Of The Paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/12.2.161

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Created:June 19, 2026

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Dataset

Supplementary Table 2 from The Risk of Ovarian Cancer Increases with an Increase in the Lifetime Number of Ovulatory Cycles: An Analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3)

Britton Trabert, Shelley S. Tworoger, Katie M. O’Brien, Mary K. Townsend, Renée T. Fortner, Edwin S. Iversen, Patricia Hartge, Emily White, Pilar Amiano, Alan A. Arslan, Leslie Bernstein, Louise A. Brinton, Julie E. Buring, Laure Dossus, Gary E. Fraser, Mia M. Gaudet, Graham G. Giles, Inger Torhild Gram, Holly R. Harris, Judith Hoffman Bolton, Annika Idahl, Michael E. Jones, Rudolf Kaaks, Victoria A. Kirsh, Synnøve F. Knutsen, Marina Kvaskoff, James V. Lacey, I‐Min Lee, Roger L. Milne, N. Charlotte Onland‐Moret, Kim Overvad, Alpa V. Patel, Annette Peters, Jenny N. Poynter, Elio Riboli, Kim Robien, Thomas E. Rohan, Dale P. Sandler, Catherine Schairer, Leo J. Schouten, Veronica Wendy Setiawan, Anthony J. Swerdlow, Ruth C. Travis, Antonia Trichopoulou, Piet A. van den Brandt, Kala Visvanathan, Lynne R. Wilkens, Alicja Wolk, Anne Zeleniuch‐Jacquotte, Nicolas Wentzensen

Dataset

Supplementary Table 2 from The Risk of Ovarian Cancer Increases with an Increase in the Lifetime Number of Ovulatory Cycles: An Analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3)

Article1982

Victoria A. Kirsh,

Synnøve F. Knutsen,

Marina Kvaskoff,

James V. Lacey,

I‐Min Lee,

Roger L. Milne,

N. Charlotte Onland‐Moret,

Kim Overvad,

Alpa V. Patel,

Annette Peters,

Jenny N. Poynter,

Elio Riboli,

Kim Robien,

Thomas E. Rohan,

Dale P. Sandler,

Catherine Schairer,

Leo J. Schouten,

Veronica Wendy Setiawan,

Anthony J. Swerdlow,

Ruth C. Travis,

Antonia Trichopoulou,

Piet A. van den Brandt,

Kala Visvanathan,

Lynne R. Wilkens,

Alicja Wolk,

Anne Zeleniuch‐Jacquotte,

Nicolas Wentzensen

Incessant Ovulation and Ovarian Cancer: A Critical Approach

Abstract

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Related publications

Supplementary Table 2 from The Risk of Ovarian Cancer Increases with an Increase in the Lifetime Number of Ovulatory Cycles: An Analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3)

Supplementary Table 2 from The Risk of Ovarian Cancer Increases with an Increase in the Lifetime Number of Ovulatory Cycles: An Analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3)

RISK FACTORS FOR EPITHELIAL OVARIAN CANCER IN ITALY

Hormonal therapy for menopause and ovarian cancer in a collaborative re‐analysis of European studies

Hormonal therapy for menopause and ovarian cancer in a collaborative re-analysis of European studies