Dietary Quality and Ovarian Cancer Risk in African-American Women

Am J Epidemiol. 2017 Jun 15;185(12):1281-1289. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwx022.

Abstract

This study evaluated 3 index-based dietary patterns-Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005, HEI-2010, and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010-in relation to ovarian cancer risk in African-American women. The study was conducted among 415 ovarian cancer cases and 629 age- and site-matched controls of African-American descent recruited from the population-based African American Cancer Epidemiology Study. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals between quartiles of dietary quality indices and ovarian cancer risk, adjusting for potential confounders. We found that higher AHEI-2010 scores, but not HEI-2005 or HEI-2010 scores, were associated with lower risk of ovarian cancer (comparing the highest quartile (4th) vs. lowest (1st), odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.45, 0.98; P for trend = 0.05). When stratified by menopausal status, no noteworthy associations were observed among premenopausal women. However, among postmenopausal women, greater adherence to HEI-2010 (quartile 4 vs. quartile 1, OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.92; P for trend = 0.03) and AHEI-2010 (quartile 4 vs. quartile 1, OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.78; P for trend = 0.01) were inversely associated with ovarian cancer. Our findings indicate that adherence to an overall healthy dietary pattern may reduce ovarian cancer risk in African-American women, and particularly among postmenopausal African-American women.

Keywords: African Americans; diet; ovarian neoplasms.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Diet / adverse effects*
  • Diet / ethnology
  • Diet, Healthy / ethnology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Middle Aged
  • Odds Ratio
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / ethnology*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / etiology*
  • Risk Factors
  • United States
  • Young Adult