Life

Charity calls for ovarian cancer awareness campaign

Many women are not aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, Target Ovarian Cancer says
Many women are not aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, Target Ovarian Cancer says Many women are not aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, Target Ovarian Cancer says

VERY few women are able to identify the potential signs of ovarian cancer, a charity has warned. Awareness of the disease was "woefully low", said Target Ovarian Cancer as it called on health officials to launch a public awareness campaign to highlight the symptoms of the disease.

The main signs of the condition are abdominal bloating, tummy pain, difficulty eating or feeling full and needing to wee more often or urgently.

But a poll of 1,300 women conducted by the charity found that just 20 per cent of them knew that persistent bloating was a potential sign of ovarian cancer.

And only one in five knew that pelvic or abdominal pain could be a symptom.

Just 3 per cent were aware that feeling full or a loss of appetite could be a sign of the condition and only 2 per cent knew that an increased need to urinate could signal a problem.

An awareness campaign would help women to be alert to the symptoms, the charity said.

"Too many women are dying too soon because they have been diagnosed too late," said Annwen Jones, chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer.

"If we want to improve survival, it is vital that we improve awareness and we need to act now.

"We need to see national awareness programmes across the UK, and today we're calling on governments and executives in Westminster, Cardiff, Holyrood and Stormont to make that happen."

Every year 7,300 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK and 4,100 women die from the disease.