In recent years, the rising incidence of ovarian cancer is increasingly threatening female’s life. Many factors are related with ovarian cancer, including being unmarried or never have given birth, contact with talc powder or asbestos, family history and age, etc. Only if females stay away from these risk factors, can they prevent ovarian cancer. Below is a detailed introduction of ovarian cancer risk factors.

1. Family history of ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer usually occurs in familial aggregates. Females who have relatives attacked by ovarian cancer have higher risk of getting ovarian cancer than common females. Therefore, family history is one of the vital factors of ovarian cancer.

2. age

Ovarian cancer can happen to any ages and its incidence rises with age. It is commonly seen among females in menopause and rarely happens to girls under 20. Besides, different types of ovarian cancers have different age distribution. For example, incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer rapidly climbs up after age 40 with a peak at age 50-60 and gradually decreases after 70, while germ cell tumor of ovary is often seen among girls before age 20 and targets females who are single or never have given birth.

3. Early menarche and late menopause

Animal experiment indicated that epithelium of ovary rapidly proliferates after ovulation and mitosis around the position of ovulation is active. As it is reported, the more cycles of ovulation during females’ life, the higher risk of ovarian cancer they have. Therefore, early menarche and late menopause are some of the vital risk factors of ovarian cancer.

4. Being unmarried or never have given birth

Research has found that females who are unmarried or never have given birth have 1.7 times higher risk of ovarian cancer than those who have given birth. Pregnancy can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. The more times and total months of being pregnant, the lower risk of ovarian cancer females have. The first pregnancy plays the strongest protecting role, which can reduce 40% risk of ovarian cancer.

5. Contact with talc powder and asbestos

Experiments show that talc powder and asbestos can transfer within abdominal cavity, causing atypical hyperplasia of ovarian epithelium and thus increase the risk of ovarian cancer. Studies in abroad found that asbestos workers have higher ovarian cancer risk than common females.

6. High fat diet

Diet containing high animal fat can increase the risk of ovarian cancer with the mechanism as below:

a. Animal fat causes cancerization through some hormonal effects. For example, under the effect of intestinal bacteria, absorbed animal fat can produce estrogen, which can stimulate ovarian cancer.

b. The polycyclic hydrocarbons in animal fat have cancerization effect to animal ovary.

c. Absorbed animal fat can change the immunity of the organism, increasing the risk of cancerization.

*Surgery, in addition to the appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are effective in treating early cancer, but certain patients in late stage of cancer may not be tolerate surgery well as they can be relatively weak. A combination of carefully planned minimally invasive therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy can effectively reduce the side effects and discomfort of treatment and may help patient get better efficacy.