Khaberni - A new scientific study has revealed that the symptoms of ovarian cancer may be misunderstood as signs of depression.
Researchers fear this confusion could lead to inaccurate diagnoses in some patients and delay focusing on the more serious physical condition.
Ovarian cancer is considered one of the deadliest cancers for women in the United Kingdom, with the country recording about 7,000 cases annually, alongside about 4,000 deaths, roughly equivalent to the death of a woman every two hours. Despite its severity, survival rates greatly increase if it is detected early, reaching about 95% over five years when diagnosed at early stages.
However, the difficulty of early diagnosis stems from the fact that its symptoms are often nonspecific and can be confused with common conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, stress, menopausal symptoms, aging, and sometimes mental disorders such as depression.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Iowa and published in the journal "Cancer", pointed out that women with ovarian cancer might be overdiagnosed with depression, even though some of the apparent psychological symptoms are actually a direct result of the disease or its treatment.
The study included 428 women with ovarian cancer, where researchers noted that many patients reported physical symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, and difficulty concentrating, which could be psychologically interpreted as depression, although actual levels of depression were low in many cases.
The results clarified that these symptoms tend to decrease about a year after diagnosis, suggesting that they are linked to the impact of the disease itself and not an independent mental disorder, according to the lead researcher in the study, Rachel Telles.
The researchers warned that confusing physical symptoms with psychological ones could lead to an exaggeration in diagnosing depression or misjudging its severity, which could distract attention from the patients' essential medical needs.
According to clinical psychologist in behavioral medicine Laura Thompson, many symptoms of depression overlap with cancer symptoms or its side effects, making it challenging to distinguish between them even for specialists.
The researchers called for the adoption of a comprehensive treatment approach that considers both the physical and psychological state together, with an improvement of depression assessment tools for cancer patients, to take into account the physical burden of the disease during diagnosis.
The study confirmed that understanding this overlap of symptoms can help improve the accuracy of diagnoses and guide treatment more effectively, rather than relying on a separate psychological assessment from the full medical context of the patient.
