Who is affected by ovarian cancer?

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women.¹ It most often affects postmenopausal women.

Women who have family members—especially first-degree relatives such as a mother, sister, or daughter—who have had ovarian cancer have a higher risk of getting it themselves.²

Women who are of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry or Icelandic ethnicity may have an increased risk because of changes to the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Women with this ancestry have higher rates of these gene changes.³

Women who have had breast cancer have twice the risk of developing ovarian cancer compared to women who have not had breast cancer.³ Women who have a history of breast cancer in their family also have an increased risk for ovarian cancer.

Citations

1. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2009). Ovarian cancer, including fallopian tube cancer and primary peritoneal cancer. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology, version 1. Available online: http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/ovarian.pdf.
2. Ozols RF, et al. (2005). Epithelial ovarian cancer. In WJ Hoskins et al., eds., Principles and Practice of Gynecologic Oncology, 4th ed., chap. 25, pp. 895–987. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
3. Berek JS, Natarajan S (2007). Ovarian and fallopian tube cancer. In JS Berek, ed., Berek and Novak's Gynecology, 14th ed., pp. 1457–1547. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.