How Can You Reduce the Risk of Ovarian Cancer?

You can reduce your risk of ovarian cancer by avoiding certain risk factors such as using hormone therapy taken after menopause, being overweight/obese, having children later or never carrying a pregnancy to term, fertility treatments, and smoking.

Ovarian cancer occurs when cells in the ovaries, the female reproductive glands, become abnormal and grow out of control. 

The cause of most types of ovarian cancers is not known, though new research has determined that the cancer starts in cells at the tail ends of the fallopian tubes and not necessarily in the ovary itself. 

Risk factors are things known to increase the chances of a person developing a disease. Some risk factors cannot be changed such as genetics and aging, others, such as smoking or avoiding hormone replacement therapy after menopause, can. 

Known risk factors for ovarian cancer that cannot be changed include: 

• Genetics
  • Inherited genetic mutations
  • A personal history of breast, colorectal, or endometrial cancer
  • A family history of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, or colorectal cancer
  • A mother, sister, grandmother or aunt who had ovarian cancer
  • Having a family cancer syndrome
    • Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC): mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes
    • Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC)
    • Peutz-Jeghers syndrome
    • MUTYH-associated polyposis
    • Lynch syndrome
• Acquired genetic changes
• Older age: most cases develop after menopause, after age 55

While there is no way to completely prevent ovarian cancer from occurring, people may be able to reduce their risk of developing ovarian cancer by avoiding certain risk factors. Risk factors for developing ovarian cancer that people can change include: 

• Use of hormone therapy taken after menopause
• Being overweight/obese
• Having children later or never carrying a pregnancy to term
• Fertility treatments
• Smoking

Additional steps women can take that may lower the risk of developing ovarian cancer include: 

• Using oral contraceptives (birth control pills) 
  • Use of oral contraceptives for five or more years cuts the risk of developing ovarian cancer in half compared with women who never used oral contraceptives
• Gynecologic surgery
  • Tubal ligation (“tubes tied”) and hysterectomy may reduce the chance of developing certain types of ovarian cancer
  • Surgeries should only be done for valid medical reasons and not just to reduce ovarian cancer risk