A new study says that obesity makes ovarian cancer more deadly, according to a New York Times report.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that obese women with advanced ovarian cancer have a shorter time to recurrence and a shorter overall survival time than women of ideal weight — and not because obese people often have other medical problems. Obesity itself, the researchers suggest, is the problem.

Dr. Andrew J. Li, the senior author of the study, a faculty physician at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said obesity did not increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer, but did affect the chance of survival when a person developed it.

“Reducing obesity and maintaining an ideal body weight,’’ he said, “is important for many reasons. This is just one more health problem in which obesity plays a role.”

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-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com