Nursing in PracticeLoyalty Card Data on OTC Medicine Purchases Could Help Spot Ovarian Cancer Earlier

Researchers examined the OTC drug shopping patterns of 153 women before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer and compared them to the patterns seen in 120 women without ovarian cancer. Participants in the study also answered questions regarding the symptoms they had and the number of times they had seen their general practitioner in the year preceding a cancer referral or diagnosis. Eight months before diagnosis, there was a substantial difference in the OTC drug buying habits of women with and without ovarian cancer. Up to nine months prior to diagnosis, there was a rise in the purchasing of dyspepsia medications.