Hypertension and Ovarian Cancer: A Case-Control Study in Saudi Arabia

Bandar M Alrobaiq; Rashed S Alharbi; Faisal S Alhoshan; Mohammed A Alnasyan; Abdulrahman Alahideb; Aamir Omair

doi:10.7759/cureus.35294

Hypertension and Ovarian Cancer: A Case-Control Study in Saudi Arabia

Cureus. 2023 Feb 22;15(2):e35294. doi: 10.7759/cureus.35294. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Bandar M Alrobaiq¹, Rashed S Alharbi¹, Faisal S Alhoshan¹, Mohammed A Alnasyan¹, Abdulrahman Alahideb¹, Aamir Omair²

Affiliations

¹ College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences College of Medicine, Riyadh, SAU.
² Medical Education, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, SAU.

Abstract

Background There is limited evidence that evaluates the association between hypertension and ovarian cancer. The study aims to investigate the association between ovarian cancer and hypertension, the difference in lipid profile, and the association between body mass index (BMI) and ovarian cancer. Methods We conducted a case-control study at King Abdelaziz Medical City (KAMC), oncology department. All Saudi female patients who were diagnosed with primary ovarian cancer admitted to the oncology department at KAMC from 2016 to 2019 were selected. The data were collected from medical records of patients of the KAMC by chart review using The Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs BESTCare database. Results A total of 137 Saudi female patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer attending to gynecology and oncology center in KAMC from 2016 to 2019 were included in this study. The mean age of participants was 57 in cases and 56 in controls with a mean BMI of 29.64 in cases and 31 in controls. There were 63 obese cases, therefore, the proportion of obesity was 46%. Approximately one-third of cases were overweight (28%) while one-fourth (26%) of them were underweight or normal weight. Roughly two-thirds of cases were hypertensive with an overall proportion of 66 % (95% confidence interval (CI) 58-74) while one-third of controls were hypertensive with an overall proportion of 32%. Cases were having significantly higher triglycerides (p=0.03) and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (p=0.001) than controls. The significant variables were analyzed using logistic regression. It was found that hypertensive subjects were 10.06 times more likely (95% CI: 4.88-20.71) to be associated with the cases as compared to controls (p<0.001). Also, an increase in BMI was significantly associated with being a case with OR = 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02-1.12; p=0.004). Conclusion In conclusion, hypertension, elevated BMI, higher triglycerides, and lower HDL were significantly associated with ovarian cancer.

Keywords: body mass index (bmi); high-density lipoprotein (hdl); hypertension; ovarian cancer; triglyceride.