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Physical Activity, Body Mass Index, and Ovarian Cancer

• The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study prospectively investigated the relations of self-reported moderate and vigorous physical activity and body mass index (BMI) to ovarian cancer in a cohort of nearly 100,000 U.S. women aged 51-72 years at baseline.
• Participants were followed from 1996-1997 to December 2003, and over 300 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma were documented.
• Neither moderate nor vigorous physical activity showed a statistically significant association with ovarian cancer in this large cohort of women.
• Researchers suspect that obesity is associated with enhanced ovarian cancer risk through a hormonal mechanism.