Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Risk Factors
Certain factors can make one woman more likely to get gestational trophoblastic tumors than another. These are called risk factors. However, a woman who has one or more risk factors will not necessarily get GTD. In fact, a woman can have all the risk factors and still not get GTD, or she can have no known risk factors and still get the disease.
Some risk factors, such as age and race, are out of a woman’s control. However, other risk factors can be controlled. Risk factors for GTD are listed below.
- Age. Most women who have a higher risk of having a molar pregnancy are over age 40 or under age 20. However, since GTD develops because of abnormal pregnancies, all women of childbearing age are at risk for getting it.
- Previous molar pregnancy. If a woman has had a hydatidiform mole or previous molar pregnancy, she is at risk of having another molar pregnancy.
- Blood type. Women with blood types AB or B have a higher risk of getting GTD than women with blood types O or A.
- Use of Birth Control pills. There is a higher risk of GTD in birth control users that increases with the longer years of use. This increase however is still so low that it should not outweigh the benefits of birth control pills.
- Diet. Some studies have shown that a diet low in carotene or vitamin A may increase a woman's risk of getting GTD.
- Family history. In some rare families there are several women who have had molar pregnancies. This is likely due to an inherited abnormaility within the eggs in the ovaries.