Both Patients And Doctors Know Little About Ovarian Cancer

Both patients and doctors know little about ovarian cancer

A new study found low alertness and awareness of ovarian cancer in 44 countries. It is noted that the cost of this problem is very high, given that the disease is well treated in the early stages. Poor knowledge of the disease was also found among doctors.

Photo: uhhospitals.org /

A new study found low alertness and awareness of ovarian cancer in 44 countries. It is noted that the cost of this problem is very high, given that the disease is well treated in the early stages.

The women's answers to the questions also showed that their doctors' knowledge of the problem is also insufficient. Many noted that the diagnosis took a long time, they were not sent to the right specialist for a long time.

WHO estimates that approximately 300,000 women will develop ovarian cancer this year. It is indicated that the largest number of patients is in China, followed by India. USA and Russia.

Authors from the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition surveyed 1,531 women who had been diagnosed with the disease online. Before that, two thirds of them did not know ovarian cancer or had heard of the disease, but knew nothing about it. According to Brazilian statistics, 86% of women know very little or nothing about the disease.

At the onset of the disease, there are often no recognizable symptoms. Most of them are too general, such as bloating, indigestion, nausea, vague abdominal pain, weakness. Less than half of the women in the survey sought medical attention within a month of the onset of symptoms. One in six women was inactive for six months.

A family history is a risk factor for the history, but only one in five women with a characteristic test received a genetic test. 57% of women were diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer.

Study design author Frances Reid said the survey included younger women who know more about the disease. This suggests that the results obtained reflect a relatively optimistic picture.

The average period from the onset of the first symptoms to diagnosis was 31 weeks, in richer countries it was a couple of weeks less. No country received praise from experts.