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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Dec 7;17(12):e0278050.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278050. eCollection 2022.

Obesity in children and adolescents and the risk of ovarian cancer: A systematic review and dose‒response meta-analysis

Nan Ding  1   2 , Junyi Zhan  1   3 , Youjin Shi  1   2 , Tianci Qiao  1   4 , Panpan Li  1   2 , Tingting Zhang  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Obesity in children and adolescents and the risk of ovarian cancer: A systematic review and dose‒response meta-analysis

Nan Ding et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: The relationship between obesity in children and adolescents and the risk of ovarian cancer remains controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to explore the exact shape of this relationship.

Methods: We conducted dose‒response meta-analyses of cohort and case‒control studies, including published studies derived from searches in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases until October 2022. Pooled effect size estimates are expressed as relative risks (RRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and were evaluated by fixed-effect models. A nonlinear dose‒response meta-analysis was performed by using a restricted cubic spline model.

Results: After screening 4215 publications, 10 studies were included in the present meta-analysis. Overall analyses revealed statistically significant associations of obesity in children and adolescents with ovarian cancer (adjusted RR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.28, P < 0.001). Moreover, the association was consistently significant in most subgroup analyses, for example, using geographic stratification, the results remained stable both in the Americas(RR = 1.11; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.21; P = 0.022) and Europe (RR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.21 to 1.77; P<0.001). For the dose‒response analyses, the risk of ovarian cancer increased with the degree of obesity, and the trend increased rapidly when body mass index (BMI) was over 25.95 kg/m2.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that obesity in children and adolescents is a risk factor for ovarian cancer, and the risk increases with increasing BMI.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow chart of study selection in this meta-analysis.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Association of obesity in children and adolescents with ovarian cancer in studies providing relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Fig 3
Fig 3. The dose‒response plot for the association of obesity in children and adolescents with ovarian cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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