Background: There is suggestive evidence that inflammation is related to ovarian cancer survival. However, more research is needed to identify inflammation-related factors that are associated with ovarian cancer survival and to determine their combined effects.
Methods: This analysis used pooled data on 8,147 women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. The prediagnosis inflammation-related exposures of interest included alcohol use; aspirin use; other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use; body mass index; environmental tobacco smoke exposure; history of pelvic inflammatory disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and endometriosis; menopausal hormone therapy use; physical inactivity; smoking status; and talc use. Using Cox proportional hazards models, the relationship between each exposure and survival was assessed in 50% of the data. A weighted inflammation-related risk score (IRRS) was developed, and its association with survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models in the remaining 50% of the data.
Results: There was a statistically significant trend of increasing risk of death per quartile of the IRRS [HR = 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-1.14]. Women in the upper quartile of the IRRS had a 31% higher death rate compared with the lowest quartile (95% CI, 1.11-1.54).
Conclusions: A higher prediagnosis IRRS was associated with an increased mortality risk after an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate whether postdiagnosis exposures are also associated with survival.
Impact: Given that pre- and postdiagnosis exposures are often correlated and many are modifiable, our study results can ultimately motivate the development of behavioral recommendations to enhance survival among patients with ovarian cancer.
©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.