Women mistakenly rely on smear test to detect Ovarian Cancer

Nearly half of women in the UK mistakenly believe that cervical cancer is the gynaecological cancer they should most be worried about, with only a staggering 4% of women very confident that they would notice a symptom of the real life biggest killer, ovarian cancer, reports research from the charity Target Ovarian Cancer in the run up to March’s Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

6,800 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year. 4,500 will die from the disease – that’s more than four times as many as die from cervical cancer - and only a 30% survival rate. To expose this relatively unknown killer cancer and encourage women to recognise its symptoms, one of which is being persistently bloated and having difficulty doing up skirt and trouser zips, Gaby Roslin has launched Target Ovarian Cancer’s new Unzipped Campaign.

Following the extraordinary campaigning and subsequent tragic death of Jade Goody in March 2009, many more women are aware of cervical cancer. Target Ovarian’s new research shows that 66% of women have received health information about cervical cancer. But the bad news is that only half as many women have received information about ovarian cancer (33%) and, shockingly, nearly a third of women (29%) mistakenly believe that a cervical smear test will detect signs of ovarian cancer. Of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, more than half (56%) didn’t know anything about the disease beforehand.

Gaby Roslin said: “Not enough women know about ovarian cancer and there is confusion between it and cervical cancer. Make yourself aware and look after your ovaries, so that you have the chance to catch ovarian cancer early and vastly increase your chance of survival. Three times as many women could survive if it was diagnosed at the earliest possible stage. If you regularly have difficulty doing up your trousers and perhaps look like you could be pregnant, have persistent tummy pain and feel full or have difficulty eating, it’s best to get checked out. They are common symptoms but when they happen on most days make your GP aware of what is happening to you.”

One of the keys to surviving ovarian cancer is catching it early on. If diagnosed at the earliest stage, up to 90% of women can survive because their disease has not spread and responds more effectively to treatment. If diagnosed once the cancer has spread widely, however, around 85% of women with ovarian cancer will die. Five year survival rates in the UK are among the worst in the western world and have remained unchanged in 30 years, with a lack of awareness of symptoms and consequent late diagnosis playing a significant part. Over the same period of time, survival rates for breast cancer have risen from 50% to around 80%.

93% of GPs report that women often experience a delay in getting a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. For the majority of women until the point of diagnosis, the GP they saw most frequently did not suggest cancer. The most common diagnoses were IBS (28%) and urinary infections (18%).

Annwen Jones, Chief Executive of Target Ovarian Cancer said: "There is, as yet, no proven screening test for ovarian cancer, but research has identified the most common symptoms and shown that they occur very frequently - almost daily. Our research tells us that 98% of women do have symptoms, including those diagnosed at an early stage, but we also know that most women are just not aware that what they are feeling could signal ovarian cancer. We hope our Unzipped Campaign will help expose ovarian cancer and encourage more women to seek medical advice if they experience persistent symptoms.”

To help you find out how much you really know about the main cancers likely to affect women, Target Ovarian Cancer has today launched the Quick Cancer Quiz at targetovarian.org.uk. Taking just five minutes, the quick fire quiz tests your knowledge of common cancer myths and facts.

For more information and resources visit: targetovarian.org.uk