Early periods and late menopause linked with higher risk of ovarian cancer

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-02-04 03:00

International

CC-0. Story by Ben Kaldi, Australian Science Media Centre

Looking into data from over 2.2 million women aged 40 or over, Korean researchers have found a link between early periods, later menopause and having a longer reproductive window, and a heightened risk of developing ovarian cancer. However, they add that having two or more births was linked with a lower risk. The researchers also found the duration of breastfeeding, and whether women had used the oral contraceptive, to be linked with a lower risk, though this was only seen in premenopausal women - the opposite was seen in menopausal women.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The Catholic University of Korea, Republic of Korea

Funder: This study was supported by a 2024 grant from The Catholic University of Korea, Uijeongbu St Mary’s Hospital Clinical Research Laboratory Foundation (Dr J.-H. Kim).

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