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TOPLINE:

Women with a new diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have a significantly higher risk for ovarian cancer at 3 months and 6 months post-diagnosis, but this risk is no longer elevated beyond 8 months.

METHODOLOGY:

• Ovarian cancer often presents with nonspecific symptoms overlapping those of IBS. The frequency of misdiagnosis remains unknown, and not all IBS guidelines recommend screening for ovarian cancer.
• Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using US administrative claims data to compare ovarian cancer incidence in adult women with and without a new IBS diagnosis.
• Diagnostic codes were used to identify cases of IBS and ovarian cancer.

TAKEAWAY:

• The cohort comprised 9804 women with IBS and 79,804 women without IBS, identified between January 2017 and December 2020.
• Women with IBS had a significantly higher risk for ovarian cancer at 3 months (hazard ratio [HR], 1.71; P = .02) and 6 months (HR, 1.43; P = .02), but not beyond 8 months post-diagnosis.
• Women with both IBS and endometriosis had an even greater risk for ovarian cancer at 3 months (HR, 4.20; P = .01), 6 months (HR, 3.52; P = .01), and after 1 year (HR, 2.67; P = .04).
• Increasing age was significantly associated with higher ovarian cancer incidence only in women younger than 50 years (HR, 1.07; P < .01), regardless of IBS status.

IN PRACTICE:

“Identifying patient-specific risk factors, such as chronic pelvic pain or endometriosis, could help develop tailored risk profiles and improve the approach to personalized care in women with IBS-type symptoms,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Andrea Shin, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, University of California, Los Angeles. It was published online in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

LIMITATIONS:

The use of diagnostic codes for identifying IBS may have led to misclassification or reflected symptoms rather than confirmed and validated diagnosis.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received support from the National Institutes of Health. Some authors reported serving as consultants, advisors, and/or receiving research support from pharmaceutical and healthcare companies; one author reported having stock options.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.