Pregnancy-related risk factors for sex cord-stromal tumours and germ cell tumours in parous women: a registry-based study

Abstract

Background Non-epithelial ovarian cancers are divided into sex cord-stromal tumours (SCSTs) and germ cell tumours (GCTs). Whereas parity and other pregnancy-related factors are protective for epithelial ovarian cancer, their associations with SCSTs and GCTs remains unclear.

Methods Using data from the medical birth registries from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, we compared all parous women with a diagnosis of SCSTs (n = 420) or GCTs (n = 345) 1970–2013 with up to 10 parous controls (SCSTs n = 4041; GCTs n = 2942) matched on the cases’ birth year and country. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of associations between pregnancy-related factors and SCSTs and GCTs.

Results The risk of SCSTs, but not GCTs, decreased with higher age at last birth [≥40 versus <25 years: OR 0.48 (95% CI 0.23–0.98)]. The risk of SCSTs (but not GCTs) also decreased with shorter time since last birth. Number of births, preterm birth, preeclampsia, and offspring size were not associated with risk of SCSTs or GCTs.

Conclusions We found a decreased risk of SCSTs with higher age at last birth and shorter time since last birth. The risk of SCSTs (but not GCTs) may be influenced by the woman’s reproductive history.