Regular physical inactivity and ovarian cancer risk in the Ovarian Cancer in Women of African Ancestry (OCWAA) Consortium

Regular physical inactivity may increase ovarian cancer risk, but few studies have investigated whether this association is similar among Black and White women. In a pooled nested case-control within the Ovarian Cancer in Women of African Ancestry consortium, logistic regression models evaluated regular recreational physical inactivity with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer among Black (223 cases; 1,472 controls) and White women (985 cases; 6,212 controls) enrolled in four cohort studies. Models were further stratified by histological type. Regular physical inactivity was not associated with risk of overall ovarian cancer among Black (OR=1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83-1.61) or White women (OR=1.03, 95% CI: 0.87-1.23). We did not detect associations according to histological type. Physical inactivity was not associated with ovarian cancer among Black or White women in a consortium of cohort studies. These results are counter to case control-based studies and emphasize the complexity of investigating physical activity prospectively.