Lives are being put at risk because women don't know the warning signs of ovarian cancer, according to a charity.
A survey for Target Ovarian Cancer found a quarter of people wrongly think cervical screening will detect if there's a problem.
New research has found more than a quarter of people in the UK (26%) believe fewer than 100 women die from ovarian cancer each month. But in reality more than 3 times as many (350) lose their lives to the disease each month.
Similarly, over one in ten estimate that fewer than 100 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every month – yet the actual figure is almost 6 times that at 580 women.
The YouGov poll was commissioned by the charity Target Ovarian Cancer to mark the start of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month which gets under way on 1 March.
More than three quarters of women in the UK (78%) say they are not confident in spotting the symptoms of ovarian cancer – and worryingly more than one in four (26%) incorrectly believe cervical screening will detect ovarian cancer.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer include:
· persistent bloating
· difficulty eating or feeling full
· pelvic or abdominal pain
· needing to wee more urgently or more often
· symptoms will be frequent (usually happening more than 12 times a month), persistent and new.
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