The effect of symptom duration in epithelial ovarian cancer on prognostic factors

Purpose: To assess the association between duration of symptoms and main prognostic factors of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: The data of all histologically confirmed EOC patients diagnosed in Israel during the period 1994-1999 (n = 1,005) were retrieved from discharge summaries and admission records. Of the 371 (36.9%) patients with known presenting symptoms, the durations of 187 (50.4%) were recorded. Results: The most common presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (65.2%). The percentage of patients with three or more symptoms increased significantly with stage (P = 0.001). No statistically significant association between duration of symptoms and prognostic factors was found. Conclusion: Our findings did not show an association between duration of symptoms and prognostic factors in EOC patients and may indicate that prognosis is not a function of delay in diagnosis.