Knowledge toward ovarian cancer symptoms among women in Syria: Cross-sectional study

Haidara Bohsas; Hidar Alibrahim; Sarya Swed; Amro A El-Sakka; Mohammad Alyosef; Haia Haitham Sarraj; Bisher Sawaf; Mhd Baraa Habib; Sherihan Fathey; Gowhar Rashid; Ahmed Thabet Daraghmi; Angham Thabet Daraghmi; Wael Hafez

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19076

Knowledge toward ovarian cancer symptoms among women in Syria: Cross-sectional study

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 12;9(8):e19076. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19076. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
² Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.
³ Faculty of Medicine Hama University, Hama, Syria.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar.
⁵ Department of Health, Giza, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Amity Medical School, Amity University, Haryana, India.
⁷ NMC Royal Hospital, 16th Street, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁸ Medical Research Division, Department of Internal Medicine, The National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Ovarian cancer is the second most prevalent malignancy in women over 40, especially in low-income nations. For every 100,000 women in Syria, 473 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed. This study aims to investigate the knowledge of ovarian cancer symptoms among Syrian women and determine the factors associated with good knowledge.

Methods: An online cross-sectional was performed between July 29 and August 17, 2022. The inquired participants in the study were Syrian females above 18 years. The questionnaire consists of 41 questions organized into three sections: sociodemographic information, Confidence in recognizing ovarian cancer symptoms, and women's Awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Results: This research included 557 Syrian women, and the average age was 23. Only 20.5% of involved women demonstrated a good knowledge of the symptoms of ovarian cancer. The participants who agreed that abdominal pain and pelvic pain are ovarian cancer symptoms formed (36.8%), and (63.9%), respectively. Regarding the additional presenting symptoms of ovarian cancer, "extreme generalized fatigue" was the most often reported symptom (66.1%). Divorced women showed greater knowledge scores than other marital status groups (7.13 ± 3.31, P-value<0.05), while public sector participants scored higher than other occupational groups (6.38 ± 2.5, P-value<0.05).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that Syrian females have inadequate knowledge regarding ovarian cancer symptoms. More ovarian cancer awareness programs for Syrian women of all ages are needed to increase the early identification of this illness.

Keywords: Awareness; Cross-sectional study; Ovarian cancer; Symptoms.