Endometriosis as a risk factor for ovarian or endometrial cancer — results of a hospital-based case–control study

Stefanie Burghaus, Lothar Häberle, Michael Schrauder, Michael G Schrauder, Katharina Heusinger, Falk C Thiel, Alexander Hein, David L. Wachter, David Wachter, Johanna Strehl, Arndt Hartmann, Arif B Ekici, Stefan P Renner, Matthias W Beckmann, Peter A Fasching
BMC cancer · 2015 · vol. 15(1) · doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1821-9 · W1814989036
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 19 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View at publisher

Abstract

Background: No screening programs are available for ovarian or endometrial cancer. One reason for this is the low incidence of the conditions, resulting in low positive predictive values for tests, which are not very specific. One way of addressing this problem might be to use risk factors to define subpopulations with a higher incidence. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which a medical history of endometriosis can serve as a risk factor for ovarian or endometrial cancer. Methods: In a hospital-based case-control analysis, the cases represented patients with endometrial or ovarian cancer who were participating in studies aimed at assessing the risk for these diseases. The controls were women between the age of 40 and 85 who were invited to take part via a newspaper advertisement. A total of 289 cases and 1016 controls were included. Using logistic regression models, it was tested whether self-reported endometriosis is a predictor of case-control status in addition to age, body mass index (BMI), number of pregnancies and previous oral contraceptive (OC) use. Results: Endometriosis was reported in 2.1 % of the controls (n = 21) and 4.8 % of the cases (n = 14). Endometriosis was a relevant predictor for case-control status in addition to other predictive factors (OR 2.63; 95 % CI, 1.28 to 5.41). Conclusion: This case-control study found that self-reported endometriosis may be a risk factor for endometrial or ovarian cancer in women between 40 and 85 years. There have been very few studies addressing this issue, and incorporating it into a clinical prediction model would require a more precise characterization of the risk factor of endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometriosis Ovarian Neoplasms Ovarian Neoplasms Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Body Mass Index Case-Control Studies Endometrial Neoplasms Endometriosis Female Humans Middle Aged Odds Ratio Ovarian Neoplasms Pregnancy Risk Factors

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (63)

Cited by (19)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:33.600579+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK