{"paper_id":"f6bd79a0-f182-4f36-b8ec-4e8e146987c3","body_text":"Abstract\nAlthough endometriosis is well recognized as a benign gynecologic condition, its association with ovarian cancer has frequently been reported. Many review papers on this topic have been published, yet there seems to be no consensus as to whether or not endometriosis is a precursor of ovarian cancer and whether or not any actions should be taken based on our current knowledge on the endometriosis-ovarian cancer association. In this chapter, I shall critically review epidemiological and clinical prevalence data for and against the link, point out the challenges in proving the causal link, and, in the end, sketch some ways to solve this problem. I shall provide a tutorial review of epidemiological studies, measures of effect size, and confounding and point out the connection between the prevalence data and the relative risk estimate. Funnel plots are used to examine the asymmetry of risk estimates, in which the risk estimates such as OR are plotted on a logarithmic scale against the inverse of their corresponding measures of precision. Areas in need of further research are also outlined.\nAccess this chapter\nTax calculation will be finalised at checkout\nPurchases are for personal use only\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nReferences\nSayasneh A, Tsivos D, Crawford R. Endometriosis and ovarian cancer: a systematic review. ISRN Obstet Gynecol. 2011;2011:140310. doi:10.5402/2011/140310.\nKobayashi H, Kajiwara H, Kanayama S, Yamada Y, Furukawa N, Noguchi T, Haruta S, Yoshida S, Sakata M, Sado T, Oi H. Molecular pathogenesis of endometriosis-associated clear cell carcinoma of the ovary (review). Oncol Rep. 2009;22(2):233–40.\nHill AB. The environment and disease: association or causation? Proc R Soc Med. 1965;58:295–300.\nVigano P, Somigliana E, Parazzini F, Vercellini P. 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Fertil Steril. 2008;89(2):481–4. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.03.028.\nAcknowledgment\nI would like to thank Professor Paolo Vercellini for stimulating the discussion when preparing for this chapter. This research was supported in part by grant 81270676 from the National Science Foundation of China and financial support from Fudan University and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Endocrine-Related Diseases.\nConflict of Interest Statement\nNone declared.\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nCorresponding author\nEditor information\nEditors and Affiliations\nRights and permissions\nCopyright information\n© 2014 Springer Japan\nAbout this chapter\nCite this chapter\nGuo, SW. (2014). The Association of Endometriosis with Ovarian Cancer: A Critical Review of Epidemiological Data. In: Harada, T. (eds) Endometriosis. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54421-0_22\nDownload citation\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54421-0_22\nPublished:\nPublisher Name: Springer, Tokyo\nPrint ISBN: 978-4-431-54420-3\nOnline ISBN: 978-4-431-54421-0\neBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}