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Background: Comorbidities can affect survival of ovarian cancer patients by influencing treatment efficacy. However, little evidence exists on the association between individual concurrent comorbidities and prognosis in ovarian cancer patients.Methods: Among patients diagnosed with invasive ovarian carcinoma who participated in 23 studies included in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, we explored associations between histories of endometriosis; asthma; depression; osteoporosis; and autoimmune, gallbladder, kidney, liver, and neurological diseases and overall and progression-free survival. Using Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for age at diagnosis, stage of disease, histology, and study site, we estimated pooled HRs and 95% confidence intervals to assess associations between each comorbidity and ovarian cancer outcomes.Results: None of the comorbidities were associated with ovarian cancer outcome in the overall sample nor in strata defined by histologic subtype, weight status, age at diagnosis, or stage of disease (local/regional vs. advanced).Conclusions: Histories of endometriosis; asthma; depression; osteoporosis; and autoimmune, gallbladder, kidney, liver, or neurologic diseases were not associated with ovarian cancer overall or progression-free survival.Impact: These previously diagnosed chronic diseases do not appear to affect ovarian cancer prognosis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(9); 1470-3. ©2017 AACR.

PurposeSurvival following ovarian cancer diagnosis is generally low; understanding factors related to prognosis could be important to optimize treatment. The role of previously diagnosed comorbidities and use of medications for those conditions in relation to prognosis for ovarian cancer patients has not been studied extensively, particularly according to histological subtype.MethodsUsing pooled data from fifteen studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, we examined the associations between history of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and medications taken for these conditions and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) among patients diagnosed with invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for age and stage to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) overall and within strata of histological subtypes.ResultsHistory of diabetes was associated with increased risk of mortality (n = 7,674; HR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.01-1.25). No significant mortality associations were observed for hypertension (n = 6,482; HR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.88-1.02) or heart disease (n = 4,252; HR = 1.05; 95% CI = 0.87-1.27). No association of these comorbidities was found with PFS in the overall study population. However, among patients with endometrioid tumors, hypertension was associated with lower risk of progression (n = 339, HR = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.35-0.84). Comorbidity was not associated with OS or PFS for any of the other histological subtypes. Ever use of beta blockers, oral antidiabetic medications, and insulin was associated with increased mortality, HR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.03-1.40, HR = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.05-1.55, and HR = 1.63; 95% CI = 1.20-2.20, respectively. Ever use of diuretics was inversely associated with mortality, HR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.53-0.94.ConclusionsHistories of hypertension, diabetes, and use of diuretics, beta blockers, insulin, and oral antidiabetic medications may influence the survival of ovarian cancer patients. Understanding mechanisms for these observations could provide insight regarding treatment.

Background: The precise mechanism by which the immune system is adversely affected in cancer patients remains poorly understood, but the accumulation of immunosuppressive/protumorigenic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) is thought to be a prominent mechanism contributing to immunologic tolerance of malignant cells in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). To this end, we hypothesized genetic variation in MDSC pathway genes would be associated with survival after EOC diagnoses.Methods: We measured the hazard of death due to EOC within 10 years of diagnosis, overall and by invasive subtype, attributable to SNPs in 24 genes relevant in the MDSC pathway in 10,751 women diagnosed with invasive EOC. Versatile Gene-based Association Study and the admixture likelihood method were used to test gene and pathway associations with survival.Results: We did not identify individual SNPs that were significantly associated with survival after correction for multiple testing (P < 3.5 × 10-5), nor did we identify significant associations between the MDSC pathway overall, or the 24 individual genes and EOC survival.Conclusions: In this well-powered analysis, we observed no evidence that inherited variations in MDSC-associated SNPs, individual genes, or the collective genetic pathway contributed to EOC survival outcomes.Impact: Common inherited variation in genes relevant to MDSCs was not associated with survival in women diagnosed with invasive EOC. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(3); 420-4. ©2016 AACR.

The purpose of this study is to determine the association between gynecologic oncology fellowship training factors, including fellowship length, and a career in academic medicine. A survey was sent to all 980 gynecologic oncologists identified via the SGO membership directory. The survey questions focused on demographics, fellowship training, practice- type, and research involvement. Demographics of the study population and survey responses were reported using frequencies and percentages. Chi-squared tests were used to test for associations between selected survey responses and length of fellowship. The authors received 410 (42 %) responses. Most respondents (60 %) graduated from a 3-year fellowship, while 27 and 13 % attended 2- and 4-year fellowships, respectively. Practice descriptions included academic/university (52 %), community/private practice (21 %), private practice with academic appointment (20 %), and other (7 %). A majority (64 %) reported current involvement in research as a principal investigator (PI); however, 54 % reported spending 10 % or less of their time in research-related activities. Approximately half reported that their fellowship research experience contributed to their current practice. Graduates of 3- and 4-year fellowships had similar rates of employment in academic/university settings (58 and 52 %, respectively). Graduates of 4-year fellowships were more likely to hold an advanced degree and 11 or more publications at completion of fellowship. A majority of graduates of a gynecologic oncology fellowship practice in an academic/university setting and are involved in research. Fellowship length does not correlate with a current academic medicine appointment. Graduates of 4-year fellowships are more likely to hold additional advanced degrees and more publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Findings from in vitro studies suggest that increased exposure to thyroid hormones can influence progression of ovarian tumours. However, epidemiologic evidence on this topic is limited.Methods: We pooled data from 11 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated associations between hyper- and hypothyroidism and medications prescribed for these conditions with 5-year all-cause survival among women diagnosed with invasive ovarian cancer.Results: Overall, there was a nonsignificant association with history of hyperthyroidism (n=160 cases) and mortality (HR=1.22; 95% CI=0.97-1.53). Furthermore, diagnosis of hyperthyroidism within the 5 years before ovarian cancer diagnosis was associated with an increased risk of death (HR=1.94; 95% CI=1.19-3.18). A more modest association was observed with history of hypothyroidism (n=624 cases) and mortality (HR=1.16; 95% CI=1.03-1.31). Neither duration of hypothyroidism nor use of thyroid medications was associated with survival.Conclusions: In this large study of women with ovarian cancer, we found that recent history of hyperthyroidism and overall history of hypothyroidism were associated with worse 5-year survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite a large body of literature evaluating the association between recreational physical activity and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk, the extant evidence is inconclusive, and little is known about the independent association between recreational physical inactivity andEOCrisk. We conducted a pooled analysis of nine studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to investigate the association between chronic recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk. Methods: In accordance with the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, women reporting no regular, weekly recreational physical activity were classified as inactive. Multivariable logistic regression was utilized to estimate the ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between inactivity and EOC risk overall and by subgroups based upon histotype, menopausal status, race, and body mass index. Results: The current analysis included data from 8,309 EOC patients and 12,612 controls. We observed a significant positive association between inactivity and EOC risk (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.14-1.57), and similar associations were observed for each histotype. Conclusions: In this large pooled analysis examining the association between recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk, we observed consistent evidence of an association between chronic inactivity and all EOC histotypes. Impact: These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that inactivity is an independent risk factor for cancer. If the apparent association between inactivity and EOC risk is substantiated, additional work via targeted interventions should be pursued to characterize the dose of activity required to mitigate the risk of this highly fatal disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about modifiable behaviours that may be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) survival. We conducted a pooled analysis of 12 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to investigate the association between pre-diagnostic physical inactivity and mortality.Methods: Participants included 6806 women with a primary diagnosis of invasive EOC. In accordance with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, women reporting no regular, weekly recreational physical activity were classified as inactive. We utilised Cox proportional hazard models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) representing the associations of inactivity with mortality censored at 5 years.Results: In multivariate analysis, inactive women had significantly higher mortality risks, with (HR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.18-1.52) and without (HR=1.22, 95% CI: 1.12-1.33) further adjustment for residual disease, respectively.Conclusion: In this large pooled analysis, lack of recreational physical activity was associated with increased mortality among women with invasive EOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of fallopian tube ligation or salpingectomy in reducing risk of ovarian cancer, the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Randomized Controlled Trial and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)'s recommendation on same.

Objectives: To evaluate the satisfaction with work-life balance (WLB) and career satisfaction of gynecologic oncologists., Methods: In August 2014, members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) were sent an anonymous, cross-sectional survey evaluating demographic variables, practice characteristics, career satisfaction, fatigue, and satisfaction with WLB. Fatigue was assessed using a visual-analog scale. Career satisfaction and WLB were assessed with a Likert scale. Inferential statistics were computed with type I error rates of 0.05., Results: Out of the 1002 gynecologic oncologists surveyed, 290 (28.9%) responded. Only 18.6% of respondents were satisfied with WLB and there were significant associations between gender (P = 0.0157), time spent in work related activities at home (P = 0.0024), on weekends (P = 0.0017), and in the hospital (P = 0.0001). More than 84% of physicians reported they would choose medicine as a career again and of those 90% would choose to be a gynecologic oncologist again. Fatigue was strongly associated with dissatisfaction with WLB in univariate and multivariate analysis (P < 0.0001)., Conclusions: Although gynecologic oncologists indicated they are satisfied with their careers, most are not satisfied with their WLB. Given the forecast shortage of gynecologic oncologists and projected increased cancer rates, understanding the factors associated with career satisfaction may assist the SGO in meeting future gynecologic cancer care needs.