EDU research finds obesity may link uterus cancer to young women

The latest data revealed by Australia's Victorian Cancer Registry (VCR) showed the increasing levels of obesity would account for the significant growth in the number of younger women being diagnosed with uterus or endometrial cancer, a media release from Cancer Council of Victoria (CCV) said on Monday. The figures were released in the council's launch for Girls' Night In, a campaign to raise funds for supporting research on breast and gynecological cancers. The data showed the number of women within the Victorian state who were diagnosed with uterus cancer will rise by 60 percent in the next 15 years which means the diagnoses will go up from 577 to 900 per year. According to the figures, the age standardized incidence rate for uterus cancer has been increasing at 0.6 percent annually over the past 20 years. Women who aged below 50 years old contributed more to the increase than the elders. The rate in the younger women group hit 1.8 percent annually, comparing with 0.3 to 0.4 percent for older women group. The report said that other countries like the United Kingdom and Canada share the similar concerning about the excess body weight leading to the uterus cancer in modern society, especially among young women. Obesity triggers the production of estrogen, which can lead to this kind of cancer. "Most young women have their uterus cancers diagnosed early and the prognosis is good, but the treatment can have long-term, life- changing implications. The consequences of surgically removing the uterus, and very often the ovaries, can be earth shattering for a woman who wants to start a family or have more children," said Cancer Council Victoria's spokesperson, Deb Stringer. Meanwhile, survival rate from uterus cancer also kept growing in the past 20 years, which grow from 77 percent to 84 percent. Women aged under 45 years old who are diagnosed with the cancer even reached the survival rate at 95 percent, the media release said. The Victorian Cancer Registry, which belongs to Cancer Council of Victoria, is a state-owned population-based cancer registry aiming to provide comprehensive, accurate and timely information for cancer control