SAN DIEGO -- Women who stay out of the sun to avoid skin cancer may be increasing their risk of ovarian cancer, scientists at the University of California, San Diego's Moores Cancer Center announced Tuesday.

A study published online Tuesday in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine provides new backing to the theory that vitamin D might play a role in the prevention of cancer, according to UCSD. Sunlight triggers the body's creation of vitamin D.

"This new global study shows a link between deficiency of vitamin D and increased incidence of ovarian cancer, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the incidence of this aggressive cancer," said Dr. Cedric F. Garland, one of the authors of the study and professor of family and preventative medicine at UCSD.

"Unlike breast cancer, we have no widely accepted means of early detection or prevention for ovarian cancer," he said.

In conducting their researches, scientists compared ovarian cancer rates among populations in different latitudes around the world.

Researchers used a tool called GLOBOCAN, a database developed by the World Health organization that tracks cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence for 175 different countries, according to UCSD.

"In general, ovarian cancer incidence was highest at the highest latitudes in both hemispheres," said Garland. "They were about five times higher in high latitudes like Iceland and Norway than in equatorial regions like Asia, South America and Africa."

According to the university, there are about 20,200 new cases and 15,300 deaths from ovarian cancer in the U.S. each year.