Risk of cardiovascular disease after preventive salpingo-oophorectomy

Breast cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA) mutation carriers are recommended to undergo early oophorectomy to prevent ovarian cancer. Premature loss of ovarian hormones may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Because women with preventive oophorectomy are mainly young and healthy, they rarely undergo specialized cardiological surveillance. We compared the risk of cardiovascular disease in women after preventive oophorectomy with reference women.

In an historical cohort study, we included 134 women aged ≤52 years after preventive oophorectomy and 268 age matched premenopausal reference women, aged 52 years or less, from the general population, excluding participants with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The Norwegian risk assessment tool (NORRISK 2) was used to estimate 10 year cardiovascular risk. This algorithm was validated in a large Norwegian population and is based on age, smoking, systolic blood pressure, total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, antihypertensive medication, and family history of cardiovascular disease. We also examined cardiometabolic factors (levels of triglycerides and high sensitivity C reactive protein, as well as body mass index and waist circumference) not included in the NORRISK 2 calculation.

Median age in the preventive oophorectomy and reference groups were 47 (range 33-52) and 46 (31-52) years, respectively. Mean time since surgery in the preventive oophorectomy group was 4.2 years (standard deviation (SD) 2.8). Ten year cardiovascular risk was similar in women after preventive oophorectomy and reference women (mean 1.15% (SD 1.00) vs 1.25 (1.09), respectively, p=0.4). Women in the preventive oophorectomy group had a lower body mass index (24.7 kg/m² (4.0) vs 26.2 (4.8), p=0.003) and waist circumference (86 cm vs 89, p=0.006). The overall cardiovascular risk estimation was comparable among hormone therapy users and non-users, but hormone therapy users had lower total cholesterol and waist circumference.

Women who underwent preventive oophorectomy had a similar risk of cardiovascular disease as population based reference women, estimated according to risk factors easily measured in general practice. Cardiometabolic risks were not increased in the preventive oophorectomy group.