| Methods |
Population‐based cohort study during the years 1982 to 2002. Data obtained from WA Data Linkage System. Mean duration of follow‐up 16.5 ± 5.9 years (median 16.5 years). Total duration of follow‐up (person‐years): 365,775 |
| Participants |
Women with a diagnosis of infertility or procreative management according to ICD codes in all hospitals in Western Australia (N = 21,639 for borderline ovarian cancer analysis and 21,646 for invasive epithelial cancer) aged 20 to 44 years; mean age 31.2 years |
| Interventions |
IVF treatment obtained from the Reproductive Technology Register (N = 14,095 did not undergo infertility treatment and N = 7544 women underwent infertility treatment) |
| Outcomes |
Borderline ovarian and invasive epithelial cancer diagnosis ascertained by histology and recorded by the Western Australia Cancer Registry |
| Notes |
Results published in 2 articles |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Selection bias |
Low risk |
All women with no history of ovarian cancer at the beginning of the study and with at least 1 ovary Retrospective analysis |
| Confounding |
High risk |
Analysis was adjusted only for parity |
| Performance bias |
Low risk |
Information based on national databases |
| Detection bias |
Low risk |
Cancer registry; no blinding of assessors to exposure status used |
| Attrition bias |
High risk |
Less than 80% of the sample was followed up with a mean of 17 years (366,041 person‐years) |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
High risk |
Infertility drugs and numbers of cycles were not reported |
