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Women across the UK are being urged to check their family medical history, in light of a new study which shows widespread ignorance on the symptoms of ovarian cancer, one of the most deadly forms of cancer in women.

The study also finds that a large proportion of women suffering from one of the four main symptoms of the cancer would not go to the doctor to check their symptoms – sparking fears that there could be hundred more women living with the cancer, undiagnosed.

Despite ovarian cancer being the fifth most common cancer in women, and the fact that it accounts for more deaths than all other gynaecological cancers combined, the average GP sees only one case of the cancer every five years.

And the results of the study, commissioned by leading charity Ovarian Cancer Action, may go some way to explaining why this is the case, as it reveals that the majority of women in the UK don't know any of the symptoms of the cancer, and that women suffering from some of symptoms will not go to get it checked by their GP.

Indeed 31 per cent said they would not consider going to their doctor if they were experiencing bloating, one of the four main symptoms.

While 99 per cent of respondents were aware that ovarian cancer exists, only a quarter believe that they have been tested for the cancer. And of these who thought they had been tested, three-quarters mistakenly believed that they were tested via a smear check.

Perhaps even more alarmingly, despite recent advances in genetic testing which means that women with a family history of ovarian or breast cancer can save their lives by finding out more about their own risk, almost two- thirds (63 per cent) of women who found out about a history of breast and/or ovarian cancer in their family did not consult their doctor. 

And when asked, 80 per cent of women said that ovarian cancer was not reported widely enough in the media when compared with other cancers, while 78 per cent thought that more regulated testing and screening, similar to the cervical screening and smear test campaign, should be introduced.