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Time Burden of Ovarian Cancer
What’s the time burden of ovarian cancer? How does a diagnosis of ovarian cancer affect how you spend your personal time or your work time?
Your oncologist or urologist can talk to you about your treatment and therapies. Your fellow ovarian cancer patients and survivors can talk to you about possible side effects and how you may feel while on treatment. But what is the time burden of ovarian cancer treatment?
The time burden of an ovarian cancer diagnosis is substantial and often extends over months to years, reflecting the intensity of diagnostic work-up, multimodality treatment, and long-term surveillance. Below is a practical, patient-centered overview of how time demands typically unfold.
Patient Shares Ovarian Cancer Journey
1. Diagnostic Phase (Weeks to 1–2 Months)
Ovarian cancer is frequently diagnosed after nonspecific symptoms, leading to a compressed but intensive diagnostic period once suspicion arises.
Time commitments commonly include:
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Multiple outpatient visits (primary care, gynecology, gynecologic oncology)
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Imaging (pelvic ultrasound, CT, MRI): 2–4 appointments
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Blood tests (e.g., CA-125, HE4)
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Biopsy or diagnostic surgery (often definitive surgery)
Estimated time burden:
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~20–40 hours over several weeks
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Often includes urgent scheduling, travel, and emotional stress
2. Initial Treatment Phase (4–6 Months)
Most patients undergo combination treatment with surgery and chemotherapy, which represents the largest time burden.
A. Surgery and Recovery
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Cytoreductive (debulking) surgery often requires:
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1–2 days preoperative work-up
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5–10 days inpatient hospitalization
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4–8 weeks of recovery with frequent follow-ups
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Time burden:
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~80–120 hours including hospitalization, recovery visits, and caregiving needs
B. Chemotherapy
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Typically 6 cycles over ~18–24 weeks
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Each cycle involves:
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Infusion visits (4–8 hours each)
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Lab visits before treatment
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Management of side effects (additional appointments, phone calls)
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Time burden:
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~100–150 hours (not including fatigue-related productivity loss)
3. Maintenance Therapy (Months to Years, if applicable)
Many patients—particularly with advanced disease—receive maintenance therapy (e.g., PARP inhibitors or bevacizumab).
Ongoing time demands:
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Monthly or bimonthly oncology visits
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Regular blood tests
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Imaging every 3–6 months
Time burden:
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~5–10 hours per month
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Can persist for 1–3+ years
4. Surveillance and Long-Term Follow-Up (Years)
Even after completing active treatment, ovarian cancer survivors require close monitoring due to high recurrence risk.
Typical schedule:
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Visits every 3 months for 2 years
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Every 6 months for years 3–5
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Annual visits thereafter
Time burden:
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~20–40 hours per year
5. Additional Hidden Time Costs
Beyond direct medical care, patients often experience significant indirect time burdens, including:
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Travel to specialty centers
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Insurance navigation and paperwork
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Symptom management (fatigue, neuropathy, GI effects)
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Mental health support
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Time off work for patients and caregivers
Studies suggest these indirect demands can equal or exceed clinical time, especially during active treatment.
Overall Estimated Time Burden
| Phase | Approximate Time |
|---|---|
| Diagnosis | 20–40 hours |
| Surgery + Chemotherapy | 180–270 hours |
| Maintenance (annualized) | 60–120 hours |
| Surveillance (annualized) | 20–40 hours |
Total (first year): ~250–350+ hours
Ongoing annual burden: ~80–160 hours
Bottom line
An ovarian cancer diagnosis imposes a high and sustained time burden, particularly in the first year, with ongoing demands that may persist for many years. This burden is often underestimated but has major implications for employment, caregiving, financial toxicity, and quality of life.
I am a long-term survivor of an incurable cancer called multiple myeloma. My goal is to educate cancer patients about what I wish I had known when I was diagnosed. And the time burden of ovarian cancer is one of those issues.
If you would like to learn more about evidence-based, non-conventional therapies for ovarian cancer, scroll down the page, post a question or comment, and I will reply to you ASAP.
thanks,
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Time Burden in Patients With Metastatic Breast and Ovarian Cancer from Clinic and Home Demands
Introduction
Most studies on cancer-related time burdens rely on administrative or medical record data, failing to accurately measure time spent on traveling or waiting, home care tasks, scheduling, and paperwork.1–3 We used a previously tested smartphone app to capture time demands among patients with advanced cancer, a population at high risk of time burdens.
Methods
We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of adults with metastatic breast or advanced-stage ovarian cancer to examine daily time use and cancer-related care burdens. The protocol was approved by the University of Minnesota institutional review board and registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05708703). All participants provided written informed consent. Study methods and results are presented in accordance with Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guidelines. Expanded methods are provided in eMethods in Supplement 1.
Eligible individuals receiving systemic therapy for metastatic breast or advanced-stage ovarian cancer were recruited December 2023 to September 2024 at the University of Minnesota and University of Alabama at Birmingham. Participants completed baseline and follow-up surveys and used a mobile app, Daynamica, to track time use for 28 days. The app uses GPS and phone sensor data to automatically infer a user’s location and activity type. Each day is segmented into alternating activities (location-based episodes) and trips (movement between locations). At the end of each day, participants are asked to review, correct, and label any unlabeled activities, provide additional details about facility-based cancer care episodes, and identify any nonfacility-based (eg, at-home) cancer care activities they engaged in via daily app-based surveys (eFigure in Supplement 1). Analyses focused on participants with sufficient app engagement (≥7 days). Data were summarized using descriptive statistics.
Results
Among the 60 participants (median [range] age 59 [30-78] years), 11 (18%) self-identified as Black, 46 (77%) as White, and 2 (3%) as more than 1 race (Table). At baseline, 17 (28%) were receiving initial treatment, 9 (15%) receiving maintenance treatment, and 34 (57%) receiving therapy for recurrence or progression. Participants who provided sufficient app data were similar to those who did not.
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