Evaluating the level of awareness regarding ovarian cancer signs and risks among women in Kirkuk: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Ovarian cancer is a malignant type of illness, the misinterpretation of the symptomatic ovarian cancer average in women and their physicians might cause a subsequent misdiagnosis of the illness. Objective: Aim of the research was to find out the level of awareness of the symptoms and risk factors of ovarian cancer among women visiting teaching hospital in Kirkuk city. Methods: This study is quantitative descriptive (cross-sectional) design.  The data collection was performed using a constructed questionnaire of purposive (non-probability) sample of (200) women visiting at outpatient and inpatients in the Teaching Hospitals in Kirkuk City. Results: The average of the subjects under assessment was (33.16). Juvenile cases were divided into the following groups of Married (66.5%) and house wife (66%). most cases (33%) had high level of education. The cases with adequate economic condition were 57 percent and (72%) percent of cases were urban dwelling. A statistically significant association was observed between Awareness of the risk factors of ovarian cancer in relation to age (p-value = 0.000) and educational level (p-value=0.013), also statistically significant difference was observed between awareness of the symptoms of the ovarian cancer in related to age (p-value = 0.024), Educational level (p-value=0.043) and Economic status (p=0.003). The good awareness (61%) of the participants toward risk factors of the ovarian cancer is more than the poor awareness of the risk factor, while the good awareness (49%) of the participants toward the symptoms is less than the poor awareness (51%) of the ovarian cancer symptoms. Conclusion: The general awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer in this study was low.