Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1991 May;63(5):814–818. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1991.180

Ovarian germ cell malignancies in England: epidemiological parallels with testicular cancer.

I dos Santos Silva 1, A J Swerdlow 1
PMCID: PMC1972374  PMID: 1645564

Abstract

The epidemiology of germ cell cancer of the ovary has been little investigated. We studied ovarian germ cell cancers incident 1971-84 in England, using data from the England and Wales national cancer register. The age distribution showed a sharp peak at ages 15-19, to which both teratomas and dysgerminomas contributed equally, and a secondary, much wider peak, at ages 65-69, mainly due to teratomas. For teratomas there were diverging secular trends by age: incidence has been increasing at ages 0-44 (P around 0.05) and decreasing at ages over 44 (P less than 0.01). Birth cohort analysis showed an increase in risk at ages 0-44 for more recent generations of women. There were no changes over time for dysgerminomas. There was no clear geographic pattern of distribution across the regions of England. The early age peak, and the increase in incidence of ovarian germ cell cancers at young ages but decrease at older ages, resembles testicular cancer epidemiology. Interestingly, discrepancies and similarities in the age distribution of these tumours between the sexes parallel lifetime profiles of gonadotropin levels in each sex.

Full text

PDF
814

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baker H. W., Burger H. G., de Kretser D. M., Hudson B., O'Connor S., Wang C., Mirovics A., Court J., Dunlop M., Rennie G. C. Changes in the pituitary-testicular system with age. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1976 Jul;5(4):349–372. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1976.tb01964.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beral V., Fraser P., Chilvers C. Does pregnancy protect against ovarian cancer? Lancet. 1978 May 20;1(8073):1083–1087. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90925-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Coble Y. D., Jr, Kohler P. O., Cargille C. M., Ross G. T. Production rates and metabolic clearance rates of human follicle-stimulating hormone in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. J Clin Invest. 1969 Feb;48(2):359–363. doi: 10.1172/JCI105992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cooke I. D., Anderton K. J., Lenton E., Burton M. Hormone patterns at the climacteric. Postgrad Med J. 1976;52 (Suppl 6):12–17. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Davies J. M. Testicular cancer in England and Wales: some epidemiological aspects. Lancet. 1981 Apr 25;1(8226):928–932. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(81)91625-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Depue R. H., Pike M. C., Henderson B. E. Estrogen exposure during gestation and risk of testicular cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1983 Dec;71(6):1151–1155. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Faiman C., Winter J. S. Sex differences in gonadotrophin concentrations in infancy. Nature. 1971 Jul 9;232(5306):130–131. doi: 10.1038/232130a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Forest M. G., Sizonenko P. C., Cathiard A. M., Bertrand J. Hypophyso-gonadal function in humans during the first year of life. 1. Evidence for testicular activity in early infancy. J Clin Invest. 1974 Mar;53(3):819–828. doi: 10.1172/JCI107621. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Henderson B. E., Benton B., Jing J., Yu M. C., Pike M. C. Risk factors for cancer of the testis in young men. Int J Cancer. 1979 May 15;23(5):598–602. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910230503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Henderson B. E., Ross R. K., Pike M. C., Casagrande J. T. Endogenous hormones as a major factor in human cancer. Cancer Res. 1982 Aug;42(8):3232–3239. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Herbst A. L., Ulfelder H., Poskanzer D. C. Adenocarcinoma of the vagina. Association of maternal stilbestrol therapy with tumor appearance in young women. N Engl J Med. 1971 Apr 15;284(15):878–881. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197104222841604. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Li F. P., Fraumeni J. F., Jr, Dalager N. Ovarian cancers in the young. Epidemiologic observations. Cancer. 1973 Oct;32(4):969–972. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197310)32:4<969::aid-cncr2820320431>3.0.co;2-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Loughlin J. E., Robboy S. J., Morrison A. S. Risk factors for cancer of the testis. N Engl J Med. 1980 Jul 10;303(2):112–113. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198007103030218. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Marshall W. A., Tanner J. M. Variations in the pattern of pubertal changes in boys. Arch Dis Child. 1970 Feb;45(239):13–23. doi: 10.1136/adc.45.239.13. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Murphy E. D., Beamer W. G. Plasma gonadotropin levels during early stages of ovarian tumorigenesis in mice of the W x -W u genotype. Cancer Res. 1973 Apr;33(4):721–723. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Osterlind A. Diverging trends in incidence and mortality of testicular cancer in Denmark, 1943-1982. Br J Cancer. 1986 Apr;53(4):501–505. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1986.79. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pike M. C., Chilvers C. E., Bobrow L. G. Classification of testicular cancer in incidence and mortality statistics. Br J Cancer. 1987 Jul;56(1):83–85. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1987.159. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Schottenfeld D., Warshauer M. E., Sherlock S., Zauber A. G., Leder M., Payne R. The epidemiology of testicular cancer in young adults. Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Aug;112(2):232–246. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112989. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Walker A. H., Ross R. K., Haile R. W., Henderson B. E. Hormonal factors and risk of ovarian germ cell cancer in young women. Br J Cancer. 1988 Apr;57(4):418–422. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1988.95. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Walker A. H., Ross R. K., Pike M. C., Henderson B. E. A possible rising incidence of malignant germ cell tumours in young women. Br J Cancer. 1984 May;49(5):669–672. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1984.104. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Weiss N. S., Homonchuk T., Young J. L., Jr Incidence of the histologic types of ovarian cancer: the U.S. Third National Cancer Survey, 1969-1971. Gynecol Oncol. 1977 Jun;5(2):161–167. doi: 10.1016/0090-8258(77)90020-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES