Survival benefit of epithelial ovarian cancer in hormone replacement therapy users: Could it be explained by socio-economic status?

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women, although it accounts for only 3% of the female cancers. About one in every 100 women will develop EOC during their life and most of these patients will die from the disease [1]. Overall, EOC is detected at a median age of 61 years and has a cumulative life time risk of about 1% [1]. About 5–10% of all EOC can be ascribed to a germ line mutation, mostly in BRCA1 or BRCA2 with ovarian cancer risk of 40% (95% CI, 35–46%) for BRCA1 and 18% (95% CI, 13–23%) for BRCA2 mutation carriers [2]