Early symptoms of ovarian cancer and their diagnostic value: the results of comparative study
Majority of patients with ovarian cancer are hospitalized with late studies of a disease; thus the efficacy of treatment is low. Objective: to find out early symptoms of ovarian cancer for the revelation of women who need further diagnostics. Methods: women > 40 years old with verified ovarian cancer (n = 100) and without cancer (n = 200) filled out the questionnaire. The relation of separate symptoms to the risk of ovarian cancer was analyzed by the calculation of odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI), and positive and negative likelihood (LR+ and LR-) of response for every symptom. Results: 14 symptoms of early ovarian cancer are revealed. They are swelling of stomach - OR 13.1 (95% CI 7.3-23.3), LR (+/-) - 3.8/0.3; stretching pain in low stomach - 7.3 (4.1-12.8), LR (+/-) - 4.0/0.5; acute abdominal pain - 6.6 (2.1-21.1), LR (+/-) - 6.0/0.9; more frequent urination - 4.2 (2.3-7.6), LR (+/-) - 3.1/0.7; increase of stomach size - 7.3 (3.9-13.7), LR (+/-) - 4.6/0.6; paresthesia - 4.4 (2.4-7.6), LR (+/-) - 3.2/0.7; bloody discharge from vagina after menopause - 7.3 (2.3-22.9), LR (+/-) - 6.5/0.9; loss of appetite - 14.3 (6.8-30.3), LR (+/-) - 8.6/0.6; nausea - 23.7(6.8-78.5), LR (+/-) - 17.3/0.8; weight loss - 4.3 (2.2-8.6), LR (+/-) - 3.5/0.8; fatigue - 24.7(13.0-46.9), LR (+/-) - 5.0/0.2;flatulency - 3.5(2.1-5.9), LR (+/-) - 2.4/0.7, constipation - 3.6(2.0-6.4), LR (+/-) - 2.5/0.7, breathlessness - 2.0 (1.2-3.4), LR (+/-) - 1.6/0.8. Conclusion: authors showed clinical symptoms of early stage of ovarian cancer which make possible the revelation of women who need further diagnostics.