Korean epithelial ovarian cancer study (Ko-EVE): protocols and interim report

There have been few studies of Asian ovarian cancer and benign tumors. The primary aim of this paper was to report the protocol of the Ko-EVE study to examine epidemiological and molecular factors for ovarian cancer and benign neoplasms and to ascertain the major risk factors for ovarian cancer control in Korea.

This case-control study covers incident epithelial ovarian cancers and benign neoplasms, four major centers participating in enrolling incident cases and 3 hospitals enrolling healthy controls among health examinees. Standardized questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers, including sections on socio-demographics characteristics, past medical history, medication usage, family history, lifetime consumption of alcohol and tobacco, diet, physical activity, and reproductive factors for women. Various biological specimens were collected in the biorepository according to the standardized protocol. Annual follow-up for cancer cases and follow-up at the 1st year for benign tumor cases are performing to evaluate treatment effect and progression. Passive follow to see long-term survival will be conducting using record linkage with national data.

The total number recruited in 2010-2011 was 246 epithelial ovarian cancer cases, 362 benign epithelial tumors and 345 controls. We are planning to collect subjects for at least 1,500 sets of ovarian cancer, 2,000 benign tumors and 1,500 controls till 2018.

The Ko-EVE will provide unique and important data to probe the etiology and natural history of Korean epithelial ovarian cancer. It will be continued by genomic and proteomic epidemiological analyses and future intervention studies for the prevention of ovarian cancer among Koreans.