Women Might Not Be Aware of This Ovarian Cancer Symptom

Ovarian cancer affects hundreds of thousands of women in the United States. It's a particularly devastating disease because of its high mortality rate, mostly due to the fact that this cancer is difficult to catch early. Later stage disease is harder to treat because the cancer cells have spread throughout the body. But early stages are challenging to diagnose because the symptoms can be extremely subtle.

A need to urinate more often is actually a sign of ovarian cancer people might tend to overlook

Because an ovarian tumor takes up space in the pelvic cavity, there is less space for other organs within that general vicinity. This is the reason that ovarian tumors can sometimes cause more frequent urination. The tumor on the ovary is putting more pressure on the bladder, making it harder for a woman to store urine. This results in the need to go to the toilet more often, and sometimes can increase the urgency of urination too.

Most women aren't aware of this important warning sign

This subtle symptom is a common, early symptom of ovarian cancer. If you notice any symptoms like this, it's important to get evaluated by your doctor. However, study shows that most women aren't aware of this important sign of ovarian disease. Recently, a poll showed that only 1% of women were aware of this important warning.

A recent study investigated awareness

A survey was conducted by Target Ovarian Cancer asking 1000 women to identify ovarian cancer symptoms. The results were very concerning. Only a small proportion of women surveyed were able to identify important signs of early ovarian cancer. About 200 women of the 1000 participants identified frequent bloating as an ovarian cancer symptom, and only 1% of women knew that needing to urinate more frequently was a red flag. Furthermore, common symptoms, such as early fullness after eating and abdominal pain, were not readily recognized by the survey respondents as ovarian cancer symptoms.

Why is it so difficult to recognize ovarian cancer?

One of the challenges of recognizing ovarian cancer is the subtlety of the symptoms. Many of the mentioned warning signs of ovarian cancer can often be explained away by a million other different reasons. On top of that, the symptoms may be very mild and unintrusive, making it easy for a woman to ignore. The last thing anybody wants to do is to make a big deal about a slight change in their own body, so most of the time people will blame these warning signs on old age, eating something disagreeable, or being sick with a virus.

Needing to urinate more often could mean a lot of things besides ovarian cancer

Another challenge with catching ovarian cancer early is the fact that many of the signs are nonspecific. When you have to pee more, there could be so many reasons for this change in toileting habit. For one, as we get older, we will experience more difficulty controlling or bowels and our bladder. It can be easy to explain away an increase in urination simply due to the aging process. Infections can also increase frequency and urgency, and they are by far much more common than ovarian cancer. Other common reasons besides cancer that increase urination include diabetes, drinking more fluids, and weakened muscles after giving birth.