The seven-year study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, looked at more than 1100 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005 and found that the mortality rate for country women was 20 per cent higher than women in a metropolitan area.
It also found just 35 per cent of rural based women lived for five years after diagnosis.
In an interview with the ABC, lead researcher, Dr Susan Jordan, of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, suggested a few reasons for the results.
“The things that are mostly likely are either that women in the country are being diagnosed at a more advanced stage or… their access to the best treatments is just not as good as for women in the city areas,” said Dr Jordan.
She also said that the results emphasise a need for further investment into developing a screening test for ovarian cancer and improved treatment options.
“We have to keep going and make sure that in another five years’ time we see no difference [in the survival rates] between urban and rural women,” said Jordan.
“It’s not the most common cancer that doctors will see and there are also conditions that are much more common that will cause these kinds of symptoms, so it’s just about keeping it in the back of your mind as a possibility in older women.”
The study acknowledged a patient’s age at the time of diagnosis, ovarian cancer type, existing illnesses and socio-economic status as factors that impact on survival.
Each year about 1500 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
