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Ovarian cancer and its symptoms remain a mystery to a huge number of Canadian women, with 96 per cent polled in a recent survey unable to identify common signs of the disease and more one in ten saying they've never even heard of the illness.

“I'm not surprised,” Elisabeth Ross, executive director of the National Ovarian Cancer Association, told globeandmail.com on Wednesday.

“I'm concerned but I'm not surprised because this is what we've heard anecdotally across the country for years.”

Too often, she said, symptoms of ovarian cancer are mistaken for other conditions, such as menopause. As well, because there is no single test of the illness, it often isn't something that comes up when women visit their physicians or discuss health issues.

“We're really trying to get women to think about ovarian cancer, get it on the radar screen and find out about it, so they will know if they're at risk,” she said.

Wednesday's survey, conducted by Decima, was released Wednesday in conjunction with National Ovarian Cancer Month. It asked more than 1,300 women questions about the disease.

In total, 96 per cent of those polled were unable to identify a combination of common symptoms of the illness like abdominal pain, swelling of the abdomen, changes in urinary frequency, weight loss or gain and nausea.

As well, 12 per cent said they had never heard of the disease.

“I think again the reason is when you go into the doctor, you don't talk about it,” Ms. Ross said. “You don't think about having cancer in your ovaries.”

The survey also found that one in three women incorrectly believed that a Pap test screens for ovarian cancer. The findings also suggested women over 50 were significantly less likely to be aware of ovarian cancer than younger women.

This year marks the first time the survey has been done. Ms. Ross could not say whether awareness levels in Canada had improved in recent years. She said women with symptoms of the disease or those with a family history of ovarian cancer should talk to their family doctor about the illness. A combination of three tests is available if someone is believed to be at risk.

Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden, who specializes in ovarian-cancer research at the University of Ottawa, said early awareness of the illness is “absolutely crucial” because of the importance of early detection in fighting the disease.

“When women are diagnosed in the early stages, more than 90 per cent can be treated effectively,” she said.

“Sadly, the majority of women are diagnosed later in the progression of the disease when the survival rate drops to 20 per cent.”

In Canada, 2,400 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. About 1,500 die from the disease annually, making it the most fatal gynecologic cancer.