Abstract B45: Obesity, diabetes, other comorbidities and survival in a cohort of women with ovarian cancer

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Abstract Purpose: To determine the relationship between obesity, diabetes, other major comorbidities and survival following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Methods: We examined the association between obesity, as measured by body mass index (BMI), diabetes and other comorbidities and survival from ovarian cancer in a large (n=1404), population-based cohort of women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between 2002-2006. Information about pre-diagnostic BMI and medical history was obtained via a self-administered questionnaire. BMI at the commencement of primary chemotherapy and clinicopathologic data were abstracted from medical records and deaths were ascertained up to October 2011 via linkage with the Australian National Death Index. We also examined short- (≥5 years) and long-term (>5 years) survival, as well as survival differences by histological subtype. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained using Cox regression. Results: After adjustment, a survival disadvantage was observed for women who were obese prior to diagnosis compared to women in the normal BMI range (BMI 30-34.9:HR 1.21, 95%CI 0.99-1.48; BMI≥35:HR 1.19, 95%CI 0.92-1.55). The association was similar for BMI at the commencement of primary chemotherapy. There was a suggestion that the adverse association between obesity and survival time was restricted to women with serous or endometrioid histological subtypes. Obesity conferred a survival disadvantage for both short- and long-term survival, with a stronger association in long-term survivors. Diabetes and other comorbidities did not appear to influence survival overall; however appeared to be important in the sub-group of women surviving longer than 5 years (HR1.44 and HR1.64, respectively). Conclusion: This is the first study to show that obesity is important in both short- and long-term survival following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. More research examining diabetes, comorbidities and ovarian cancer survival should be conducted. Citation Format: Melinda M. Protani, Christina M. Nagle, Anna deFazio, Penelope Blomfield, Thomas Jobling, Yee Leung, James L. Nicklin, Lewis C. Perrin, Gerard Wain, Penelope M. Webb. Obesity, diabetes, other comorbidities and survival in a cohort of women with ovarian cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr B45.